MILWAUKEE -- Three up and three down from the Brewers' 9-8 12-inning win over St. Louis Tuesday at Miller Park: 

Gross miscalculations

Manager Ned Yost's use of Gabe Gross in center field has caused some consternation around here. But after Gross led off the four-run sixth with a walk, he lifted his on-base percentage to .433 (13-for-30) in the last eight games, all starts. He also was hitting .261 (6-for-23) in the same stretch. Gross later doubled and then walked in his final bat, setting up his winning run. His reward? A trade to Tampa Bay immediately following the game.

Now you know why

Yost has said Manny Parra will be one of his pinch-hitters in this stretch while they play short with position players. Parra showed why with his RBI double in the fourth, a shot down the right-field line. Parra then demonstrated some heads-up baserunning by tagging to third on Jason Kendall's fly to center.

Signs of life

Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder made strides at the plate, with Braun getting a two-run double among his two hits and Fielder reached five of six times with three singles. Fielder also added a sacrifice fly and Braun picked up an assist in the third inning when he threw out Albert Pujols at the plate.

... THREE DOWN

Be ready to go

As good as Parra's baserunning was to get him to third, he missed a golden opportunity to extend the Brewers' lead to 5-2 when he failed to score on Rickie Weeks' steal of second base in the fourth. The ball skipped far enough away from shortstop Cesar Izturis for Parra to score but he stayed at third and was stranded.

Speaking of Parra

Yost had to milk just about everything out of his rookie left-hander to get him through five innings and in a position to come away with a victory. He threw 106 pitches, much too high a total. Outings like that only put more stress on an already hard-working bullpen.

Speaking of the pen

The gate to the bullpen looked more like a revolving door as Yost trotted out seven relievers over the final seven innings. How does a team that carries an unheard-of 14 pitchers still end up short of pitching? Ask Yost that Wednesday as he hopes Dave Bush will give him seven innings before having to dip into the pen.