ESPN

With one swing Thursday night, Ryan Braun may have altered the fortunes of two teams in the NL Central.

The Cardinals led the Brewers 3-2 heading into the top of the ninth. Ryan Franklin came on to close things out. Ray Durham struck out, J.J. Hardy singled to center and Braun hit a huge blast to center to give Milwaukee a 4-3 lead, which Salomon Torres preserved by striking out the side in the bottom of the ninth for his 19th save.

For Milwaukee, this was immense. It gave them an undefeated seven-game road trip, the longest such trip in franchise history. It gave them eight consecutive wins overall, the organization's longest such streak since 2003. It gave them baseball's first perfect road trip of seven or more games since 2002, and the NL's first since 1999. It helped the team keep pace with the Cubs and distance itself further from the Cards. With CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets at the top of that rotation, this year is it for the Brew Crew. There's an air of momentum that the organization knows won't last beyond this season -- when both of those pitchers will find free-agent pastures green indeed -- so don't be surprised if Milwaukee isn't done yet. They could still deal for another bullpen guy.

For St. Louis, though, the loss might've been even bigger. How can this club give Franklin any more save chances? He lost two of the four games against Milwaukee and has now allowed two runs or more in four of his past eight appearances; he has given up nine runs and four homers in that same span. Granted, he was asked to pitch 1 2/3 innings Thursday night, but his ERA has climbed nearly a full run in July, and his WHIP this month is now 1.97. But can the club go back to Jason Isringhausen and his 6.17 ERA and 1.63 WHIP? Clearly, the team hoped Chris Perez could supply a spark, but that didn't happen, and he's back down in Triple-A. If there's a team that needs to overpay for a guy like Brian Fuentes or George Sherrill, it's officially the Cardinals. They've contended seemingly out of nowhere this year, with a starting rotation patched together with bailing wire and Dave Duncan's sweat. I'm not saying ship off Colby Rasmus. But there are symbolic wins and losses as the dog days of summer progress, and Thursday night was one of those. If St. Louis doesn't right the bullpen soon, a golden opportunity may slip away.

What does this mean fantasywise? Well, don't drop Franklin this morning. But be prepared for the possibility that he could wind up in middle relief again eventually. And if you own Sherrill or Fuentes and he winds up in St. Louis, rejoice, because it probably means that guy will stay a closer, where it had been presumed either lefty would wind up a setup man on a contender.

Past editions: 7/24: Mussina is for real | 7/23: Hanrahan to close | 7/22: Yanks injuries

Oliver Perez hadn't allowed a run in 18 1/3 innings pitched against the Phillies before Thursday afternoon's game; he allowed one in 7 2/3 and fanned an impressive 12. Jamie Moyer was nearly as good, which prevented Perez from earning his seventh win, but in his last five starts he's got a 1.34 ERA, a 0.98 WHIP and has fanned 39 in 33 2/3 innings. … On a day when Kerry Wood finally went on the DL because of his finger blister, Carlos Marmol racked up a save, but it was a hair-raiser. Up three in the ninth, he walked the bases loaded, but got out of the jam to get his fourth save of the year. … Roy Halladay won his 12th game Thursday, and continued his dominance of Brian Roberts. Over the past five seasons, Roberts leads the majors in doubles, but now in 53 career at-bats against Halladay, Roberts has zero extra-base hits. … Matt Cain continues not to get much run support, but Monday, one run was all he needed. Cain out-dueled Tim Redding, as each starter went the distance. Cain fanned four, allowed four hits and no walks, and needed 113 pitches to go nine against the Nationals; Redding fanned five, walked no one and allowed seven hits, including Dave Roberts' RBI single in the eighth, in eight innings. Roberts was making his first start since coming off the DL. … Alex Rios stole his 27th base Thursday, and his 11th in the month of July. He tied Brian Roberts for fourth in the AL, and eighth in all of baseball … Ryan Howard went 0-for-3 against lefty Oliver Perez and is now hitting .180 against southpaws on the season. By way of contrast, he hit .279 against lefties in his MVP season of '06, and hit .225 against them last year. … Dan Uggla, who was 1-for-22 since the All-Star Break, got Thursday's game off, though he did pinch hit in the ninth and draw a walk. … Nate McLouth hit his 21st homer of the season Thursday night. He had 25 in his three-year career before this year. … Matt Garza (zero strikeouts in five innings) is now 0-4 against the Kansas City Royals. The Elias Sports Bureau reports that only one other starting pitcher has lost his first four career decisions against the Royals in the last 10 years: Gary Knotts. … Carlos Delgado drove in two more runs for the Mets Thursday, giving him 61 on the season and 11 in his last eight games. … A.J. Burnett had to wait a day, but he finally picked up his 11th win as the Blue Jays held off the Orioles in a game that was suspended by rain on Wednesday night. … Ray Durham made his first start as a Brewer Thursday, and went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts. … Yoslan Herrera started for the Pirates in place of Phil Dumatrait, and went six shutout innings against the Padres, allowing six hits and one walk, and striking out four. Herrera had allowed 19 hits and 13 runs in just six innings coming into this game.