ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Jeff Suppan threw seven scoreless innings in his favorite stadium and Corey Hart hit his first homer in 27 games to lift the Milwaukee Brewers to a 1-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday.

Suppan, who parlayed an 2006 NLCS MVP for the Cardinals into a free-agent contract with the Brewers, outdueled Adam Wainwright in the first of 18 matchups between teams who entered the day tied for the NL Central lead.

Suppan (3-3) is 131-126 for his career, but 9-2 with a 3.02 ERA in 20 starts in St. Louis and 7-2 with a 2.92 ERA in 12 starts against the Cardinals.

The Brewers won for the 10th time in 12 games despite getting only one other hit in eight innings against Wainwright (3-2), who struck out seven and walked two in his longest outing of the year. He's lost his last two starts after winning nine straight decisions.

Shane Robinson had two hits and a steal for the Cardinals, who have lost five of seven while missing Ryan Ludwick and Rick Ankiel. St. Louis was shut out for the first time this season.

Suppan had only two 1-2-3 innings, one of them aided by a double-play ball. But he limited the Cardinals to only four at-bats with runners in scoring position, all with two outs.

Shortstop J.J. Hardy dived into the hole to rob Skip Schumaker of a game-tying hit with two on, producing a force play for the final out in the seventh.

Mark DiFelice and Mitch Stetter combined to work a hitless eighth and Trevor Hoffman finished for his ninth save in nine chances. Hoffman has not allowed a run in 10 innings this season.

Hart's first homer since April 13, a stretch of 27 games and 106 at-bats, put the Brewers ahead in the second. That was the Brewers' lone hit until Ryan Braun's single to start the seventh when right fielder Shane Robinson just missed on a diving catch.

Wainwright had fine-tuned his arm slot between starts, pinpointing it as the source of a handful of so-so outings. The Brewers didn't bat with runners in scoring position until the eighth, when Hart reached on an error and Bill Hall walked with none out, but Wainwright rallied with two strikeouts and a pop-up.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)