Recap: St. Louis vs. Milwaukee

St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Shelby Miller was nearly flawless over seven innings of work, as St. Louis topped former Cardinal Kyle Lohse and the Milwaukee Brewers, 2-0, in the opener of a three-game series at Busch Stadium.

Miller (2-0) gave up a single to Norichika Aoki to begin the game and then proceeded to retire 21 of the next 22 batters he faced, including the final 17 after hitting Alex Gonzalez with a pitch in the second inning.

The 22-year-old right-hander registered a career-high eight strikeouts during his impressive outing.

"I feel like I'm the kind of pitcher that gets stronger as the game goes on," Miller said. "I felt stronger than I did earlier on. I was locating my pitches more, getting the ball down in the zone and throwing my curveball for strikes. I didn't feel fatigued at all."

Trevor Rosenthal followed Miller and tossed a 1-2-3 eighth, then Mitchell Boggs overcame a stressful ninth to pick up his second save of the season.

Aoki drew the game's only walk with one out, snapping a string of 21 straight batters retired by St. Louis pitchers. Jean Segura then recorded only Milwaukee's second hit of the game, a single to center field.

Boggs, however, struck out Ryan Braun and Rickie Weeks swinging to secure the win, the Cardinals' third in a row.

Lohse (0-1), who had spent the last five seasons with the Cardinals, tossed seven solid frames against his former club.

"A couple mistakes cost me," Lohse said.

The Brewers are just 2-7 to start the season.

Lohse gave up three consecutive hits to begin the second, but the veteran hurler was able to limit the damage to one run.

After Carlos Beltran singled, Braun had Yadier Molina's drive to left field in his glove, but the ball bounced out of his glove when he fell to the ground for a double. A single up the middle by David Freese scored Beltran.

It remained a 1-0 game until Molina took his former teammate deep to left- center in the seventh.