MILWAUKEE – Carlos Villanueva pitched four scoreless innings of relief for injured starter Chris Capuano, helping the Milwaukee Brewers complete a sweep of the dazed St. Louis Cardinals with a 4-0 victory.

With three consecutive wins over the reigning World Series champions, who still seem to be reeling after the death of reliever Josh Hancock, Milwaukee has won nine of 11 overall and has the best record in baseball at 18-9.

Prince Fielder hit a two-run single off Anthony Reyes (0-5) for the Brewers, who finished their first home sweep of St. Louis since taking four games in April 2002.

St. Louis has lost five in a row. The Cardinals are off Thursday, but players will travel to Tupelo, Miss., to attend a memorial service for Hancock, killed in a highway wreck early Sunday.

The Brewers won despite getting only three innings from Capuano, who took a sharp comebacker off his right calf in the second and pitched one more inning before he was taken out of the game.

Aaron Miles’ grounder ricocheted off Capuano’s leg with two outs in the second. Fielder picked up the ball at first base and missed the tag, but Miles was called out for sliding out of the basepath, ending the inning.

Capuano came back out to warm up before the third inning and apparently felt well enough to continue, retiring his first two batters. He allowed a single to So Taguchi before getting Chris Duncan to pop out.

But Tony Gwynn Jr. pinch hit for Capuano in the bottom of the third, and Villanueva took over on the mound in the fourth.

Villanueva (2-0) allowed two hits and walked two. He loaded the bases with one out in the sixth, but struck out Scott Spiezio and got Gary Bennett on a deep fly to left.

Matt Wise tossed two scoreless innings to complete the five-hitter, Milwaukee’s first shutout of the season. The Cardinals were blanked for the third time.

The Brewers took a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Corey Hart’s grounder took an odd hop and glanced off the glove of third baseman Scott Rolen for a single, allowing J.J. Hardy to score from second base.

Reyes then made a move toward first base as Hart was trying to steal, and quickly whirled to throw to second. But shortstop David Eckstein apparently missed tagging Hart at second base, and Bill Hall came home from third. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa briefly argued the call with second base umpire Dan Iassogna, but the Brewers took a 2-0 lead.

The Cardinals’ recent string of concentration lapses on defense continued the following inning, when Tony Graffanino went to second base on a dropped fly ball by Spiezio in right. Reyes then walked two straight batters to load the bases with one out for Fielder, who socked the first pitch he saw to right field for a two-run single that put Milwaukee ahead 4-0.

Reyes struck out a season-high eight, but gave up four runs – three earned – in six innings.

Notes: Miller Park’s retractable roof was open on a sunny, 55-degree day. … Hardy extended his career-best hitting streak to 13 games with a single in the fourth. … Albert Pujols pushed his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the first.

AP-ES-05-02-07 1552EDT