Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal took the mound for Sunday's ninth inning with a two-run lead and the hope of setting his club's save record (48).
Instead the opportunity turned into a blown save and a loss, and the Cardinals fell to the Brewers 8-4 in front of an announced crowd of 45,021 that gathered at Busch Stadium for the final regular season game.
The Cardinals' National League Central lead was cut to 2 1/2 games over Pittsburgh. Their magic number for clinching the division remains at five.
The Cardinals mustered one run in the bottom of the ninth, but it wasn't enough to overcome a Brewers grand slam and three-run homer in the top of that inning.