Brandon Woodruff allowed just two hits in eight innings to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 3-0 victory over the host St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night

The Brewers (29-30) kept their playoff hopes alive and prevented the Cardinals (29-28) from clinching a berth in the National League postseason bracket.

These teams split the first four games of their five-game NL Central showdown heading into Sunday's critical game.

Woodruff (3-5) only allowed singles by Kolten Wong in the first inning and Yadier Molina in the second. He struck out 10 batters and retired 19 consecutive batters after Molina's hit.

Josh Hader pitched the ninth to earn his 13th save.

Losing pitcher Adam Wainwright (5-3) allowed three runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings during his 274th career start with Molina catching.

Wainwright retired his first seven batters before allowing Orlando Arcia's third-inning double. Omar Narvaez followed with an infield single, but Avisail Garcia struck out and Christian Yelich grounded out to end the threat.

Ryan Braun and Daniel Vogelbach hit back-to-back home runs to open the fourth inning to put the Brewers up 2-0. Braun's homer came on his 95th career at bat against Wainwright.

Yelich drew a leadoff walk in the sixth inning and took second on Vogelbach's groundout, but Keston Hiura grounded out to end the inning.

The Brewers chased Wainwright in the seventh inning. Arcia hit a two-out double and scored on Narvaez's single into center field to push the Brewers' lead to 3-0.

Garcia followed with a single to bring reliever Andrew Miller in the game. After walking Yelich to load the bases, Miller struck out Braun to prevent further damage.

Matt Carpenter drew a one-out walk in the eighth inning to give the Cardinals their first runner since the second inning. Woodruff responded by striking out Dexter Fowler and getting Dylan Carlson to fly out.

--Field Level Media