Slumping Cardinals routed by Brewers

Ben Sheets gave up two runs in six innings, showing no ill-effects from a groin injury he suffered in his last start, and Tony Graffanino hit a three-run homer to help the Milwaukee Brewers beat the slumping St. Louis Cardinals, 12-2, Tuesday night in Milwaukee.

Braden Looper and St. Louis were cruising with a 2-0 lead in the fifth. But the Cardinals, playing in their second game since the death of reliever Josh Hancock, fell apart with another sloppy performance. Milwaukee scored 11 runs over two innings and St. Louis lost its fourth straight.

“We’re not doing what we’re supposed to do, which is respect Josh,” Manager Tony La Russa said of the Cardinals’ latest performance.

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Frank Martinez, a 40-year-old New York Mets fan, was banned from Mets home games for three years after pleading guilty to shining a high-powered flashlight at a pair of Atlanta Braves players during an April 20 game.... Three days before he was killed in a highway wreck, Hancock was involved in a predawn accident that police in Sauget, Ill., treated routinely. He did not appear under the influence of alcohol, Police Chief Patrick Delaney said.