St. Louis ? Tino Martinez made a big contribution to the St. Louis Cardinals without taking the bat off his shoulder.

Martinez, mired in an early slump, drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning as the Cardinals completed a three-game sweep of Milwaukee with a 6-5 victory on Thursday.

Mike Matheny, center, is congratulated at the plate by St. Louis teammates Kerry Robinson (13), Jim Edmonds (15) and Albert Pujols following his three-run homer. The Cardinals defeated Milwaukee on Thursday at St. Louis.

“I’d like to get a hit in those situations,” Martinez said. “But taking a walk today obviously helped us win the game and that’s what we’re here for.”

Martinez, who signed a $21 million, three-year deal to replace the retired Mark McGwire at first base, has been pressing to fill those large shoes. He’s seldom hit the ball out of the infield and is batting .138 with four RBIs so far.

“It’s frustrating because I’m trying to do too much,” Martinez said. “I feel pretty good at the plate but I’m chasing bad pitches.”

He got the job done against Mike DeJean, finally justifying the standing ovations and chants of “Tino! Tino!” before virtually every at-bat.

“I deserve to be getting booed right now,” Martinez said. “I’m sure I’d be booed in many other cities besides St. Louis. It’s definitely nice that they support me but I’d still like to go out there and produce.”

The Cardinals won all three games by 6-5 scores.

J.D. Drew walked off Jose Cabrera (0-2) with two outs in the eighth, Albert Pujols doubled and Jim Edmonds was intentionally walked to bring on DeJean. Martinez took three straight balls before a called strike, and crushed a 3-1 pitch foul to the loge level in right field before taking ball four well outside.

“You’re basically in the driver’s seat in those situations,” Martinez said. “He’s got to throw the ball over the plate, and if he falls behind, even better. I just relaxed and got good pitches to hit and saw the balls out of the zone.”

Mike Matheny hit a three-run homer and Drew also homered for the Cardinals, who have won five of six. Cabrera also took the loss in the series opener, allowing a go-ahead sacrifice fly to Fernando Vina in the eighth inning.

Dodgers 4, Giants 3

San Francisco Mark Grudzielanek and pinch-hitter Hiram Bocachica hit consecutive solo home runs off Kirk Rueter (0-1) in the eighth for Los Angeles. Omar Daal (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Andy Ashby, who allowed two runs in five innings in his second start back from elbow surgery.

Mets 3, Cubs 2

Chicago Pedro Astacio took a shutout into the eighth and Scott Strickland started a double play to preserve the lead. Astacio (2-0) lost his shutout when Sammy Sosa homered in the eighth.

Reds 3, Pirates 2

Pittsburgh Juan Encarnacion, moved up in the order as Cincinnati manager Bob Boone again juggled his lineup, homered and drove in all three runs against Pittsburgh.

Jimmy Haynes (1-1) bounced back from a rough opening start to limit the Pirates to six hits, including Kevin Young’s two-run homer, in 61/3 innings.

The Reds won for the second straight night to deny the Pirates three consecutive series wins for the first time since August 1999. Pittsburgh began the season by winning two of three from the Mets and two straight from the Cubs.

Braves 6, Phillies 2

Philadelphia Tom Glavine pitched seven shutout innings and Vinny Castilla homered and drove in three runs, leading Atlanta past Philadelphia. Glavine (2-0) allowed three hits and lowered his ERA to 0.89. He won his seventh straight decision, going back to last season.

Marlins 7, Expos 5

Miami Julian Tavarez (1-1) allowed six hits and four runs in 52/3 innings. He also had a two-out, two-strike drag-bunt single that tied the game in the fourth and kept the inning alive for the Marlins to go ahead for good.

Luis Castillo and Eric Owens added consecutive run-scoring triples that put Florida up 6-4.

The smallest crowd in franchise history was on hand for the second straight night. Only 4,466 fans turned out to watch the two embattled franchises even fewer than the 5,422 that showed up Wednesday.

Diamondbacks 8, Rockies 4

Denver Randy Johnson (3-0) settled down after a shaky start, and the Arizona Diamondbacks stopped a three-game losing streak. The Diamondbacks improved to 5-0 in games started by Johnson and Curt Schilling. When the World Series co-MVPs do not pitch, Arizona is 0-5.