Milwaukee’s lead in the NL Central is down to single digits after the Brewers fell 2-1 to St. Louis for a second straight night at American Family Field.

Once again, the Crew could not get anything going offensively, a troublesome trend during this stretch in which they have lost five of their last seven games. A big part of the most recent quiet night was Cardinals’ starter Jake Woodford. He gave up just two hits and struck out five to get the win. The St. Louis bullpen held up its end, allowing just the one run — a sac-fly from Willy Adames in the eighth inning — over the final four innings of work.

Milwaukee did load the bases in the bottom of the ninth against Giovanny Gallegos but the closer struck out Pablo Reyes to end the game and give the Cardinals their 10th straight win.

Brandon Woodruff took the loss (9-10) for the Brewers, though he was not bad by any means. He gave up just one run on two hits and struck out 10. That latter figure helped him become just the seventh pitcher in team history to record at least 200 strikeouts in a season.

The loss dropped the Brewers lead in the NL Central to 9.5 games on the Cardinals and their magic number to clinch the division remained at three. The two teams will continue the series Wednesday night, one of five games they play against each other in the final two weeks of the season.