ST. LOUIS -- Jason Marquis' game is to make hitters put the bat on the ball. His ill-timed inability to do so cost him dearly on Thursday. Marquis paid for his only two walks of the game, as they led to the decisive runs in the Cardinals' 4-3 loss to the Brewers in a makeup game at gray, chilly Busch Stadium.

It was the first loss of the season for Marquis (3-1), who allowed four runs over seven innings. The defeat ended a six-game winning streak for St. Louis, which still holds the National League's best record at 14-6. The Cards lost for the second time in 13 games and lead the NL Central by 3 1/2 games over the idle Cubs.

Trailing 2-1, Marquis opened the fifth inning by issuing consecutive walks to Milwaukee's No. 7 and 8 hitters, backup second baseman Bill Hall and struggling rookie shortstop J.J. Hardy. Brewers starter Chris Capuano struck out, but both runners advanced on a wild pitch on strike three, and Brady Clark lined a double to left that scored both men.

The Cards got within a run later in the game, but were never able to tie it up.

"I think he learned a lesson right there," said pitching coach Dave Duncan. "You're talking about the seventh- and eighth-place hitters, and they really haven't gotten their seasons going yet. Those are two guys that he walked, totally out of character in the way he pitched. I think if he had it to do over, he'd be a lot more aggressive and make them earn their way on base. It ended up costing him the game."

Marquis chalked up the walks as much to poor decision-making on his part as to missing with his location. Ten days after plowing through the Brewers lineup with a combination of his bread-and-butter sinking fastball and a cut fastball, he fell in love with the cutter too much on Thursday.

"I'd probably go at them a little bit different," Marquis said. "(I would have) thrown a little more of my fastball, sinkers at them instead of cutters. Because I had better control with my sinker today than I did with my cutter. So that was a mistake, pitch selection-wise."

Beyond the two telling walks, evidence of Marquis' altered approach came in his ratio of groundballs to flyballs. He got nine outs on the ground and nine in the air, quite a change from his usual extreme-grounder nature. The nine flyball outs were his most in a game since May 31, 2004.

"I had success with my cutter last time around with them, and I think I might have overused it a little bit too much today," Marquis said. "Later on in the game, I started using my sinker to get ahead, and I got results.

"I'm usually a guy who sticks to his game plan, and I got away from that today. I've got to go out there and trust that the game plan I have is gonna work. Next time, that's what I'll do."

Still, even after Marquis permitted the third and fourth runs, the Cards remained in the game. Carmen Cali got in trouble but Jimmy Journell got out of it in the eighth, and Journell mowed down the Brewers in the ninth.

Reggie Sanders, returning to the lineup after missing a game because he was hit by a pitch on his left hand, hit a solo homer for the Cardinals' first run. Pinch-hitter Roger Cedeno contributed an RBI single for the Redbirds, cutting it to 4-2.

St. Louis closed within a run in the eighth, and had the go-ahead run at the plate, but Yadier Molina grounded out to end the threat. Manager Tony La Russa elected not to pinch-hit for the scuffling Molina with John Mabry or Jim Edmonds because he didn't want either left-handed hitter to face lefty reliever Tommy Phelps, and because he wanted to have them both available in the ninth.

Edmonds struck out as a pinch-hitter against Derrick Turnbow in the ninth, however. Mark Grudzielanek walked to bring the potential go-ahead run to the plate, but Albert Pujols popped up, ending the game.