MILWAUKEE -- The St. Louis Cardinals came into Saturday night's game against the Milwaukee Brewers looking to win their fifth series of 2015 and improve their record as the best team in the NL Central.

They accomplished both goals, beating the Brewers 5-3 in front of a crowd of 35,919 at Miller Park, but the victory might have come at a hefty price tag.

With the Cardinals leading 2-0 in the top of the fifth, St. Louis ace Adam Wainwright was force to leave the game after sustaining a left ankle injury.

Leading off the fifth, Wainwright hit a pop-up to Brewers first baseman Adam Lind and tripped while running toward first, appearing to roll his ankle as he exited the batter's box. The Cardinals' athletic trainer immediately came out of the dugout to check on Wainwright, who hobbled off the field and would not return.

The extent of Wainwright's injury is not yet known, and he will be re-evaluated by team physicians when the Cardinals return to St. Louis.

Wainwright had faced the minimum through the first four innings, allowing three hits while inducing three double plays, striking out four, and throwing just 35 pitches. He was relieved by right-hander Mitch Harris, who was making his major league Debut.

Harris pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

The Cardinals jumped on the Brewers early, grabbing a 2-0 lead in the top of the second.

First baseman Mark Reynolds walked to lead off the inning, and second baseman Kolten Wong followed with a triple to deep left-center field.

Attempting to cut down Wong at third base, Brewer shortstop Jean Segura fired the relay throw from center fielder Gerardo Parra into the Cardinals dugout, allowing Wong to score on the error.

The game remained locked at 2-0 until the top of the seventh inning, when Brewers left-hander Will Smith surrendered a double to third baseman Matt Carpenter, and walked right fielder Jason Heyward.

Right-hander Jeremy Jeffress relieved Smith, and the first pitch he threw to left fielder Matt Holliday was drilled for an opposite-field, three-run home run, Holliday's first of the season, to make the score 5-0.

Milwaukee battled back for three in the eighth, on an RBI single from Lind against left-hander Randy Choate.

Third baseman Aramis Ramirez cracked a double off right-hander Seth Maness to account for two more runs.

But the comeback effort wasn't enough, as Maness recovered to pitch a perfect ninth inning, securing the victory.

The win improves St. Louis to 12-4, atop the NL Central, and drops Milwaukee to 3-15 -- the worst in baseball.

NOTES: Cardinals C Yadier Molina was out of the lineup Saturday, dealing with soreness in his right knee after being struck by a foul tip in Friday night's game. Tony Cruz got the start at catcher for the Cardinals in his place. Molina has been dealing with soreness in the knee since last week, when he took a foul tip in the same location. He is listed as day-to-day. "We'll see how it looks (Sunday,)" said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny. ... Saturday marked the 15th consecutive game that the Brewers trotted out a different lineup, with Hector Gomez starting at second base over Elian Herrera Saturday tonight. The shifting lineup is a signal of the team's struggling offense to start the season. "I definitely would prefer (having a constant lineup)," said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke. "The constant change I don't like that much. What it tells you is, if you’re changing all the time, something’s not working." ... Pete Kozma is the Cardinals' emergency catcher, in the event that Cruz goes down to injury and Molina is unavailable to catch. "If we get (Kozma) back there, we're in a firestorm," said Matheny. "I'm not worry about him blocking, I'm worried about him not getting hurt." Kozma has never caught a game at the professional level. ... The Brewers lost their fourth straight home