ST. LOUIS -- To manager Mike Matheny and the St. Louis Cardinals, Sunday's rain-delayed game with the Milwaukee Brewers felt like a doubleheader.

Imagine how it might have felt had St. Louis coughed up the five-run lead it lugged into the ninth inning.

Instead, new closer Seung Hwan Oh fanned pinch-hitter Martin Maldonado with the potential tying and go-ahead runs aboard to preserve the Cardinals' wild 9-8 win at Busch Stadium, their first home series sweep of the year.

Delayed for 80 minutes before the first pitch, the game was held up for 55 minutes during Milwaukee's two-run rally in the seventh. By the time Oh suckered Maldonado into waving at a 1-2 breaking ball, the game had lasted three hours and 48 minutes.

"It was good to see the guys stay the course," Matheny said. "Seemed like every time it started pouring, it was when our guys were trying to make pitches."

The Brewers (35-46) left quickly after the game for Washington, where they play the Nationals at 11:05 a.m. ET Monday, but their ninth-inning at-bats by no means gave the impression of a team in a hurry to get out of town.

They loaded the bases against Sam Tuivailala with two singles and a hit batter, forcing Matheny to wave Oh in from the bullpen. Oh walked Aaron Hill and permitted a two-run double to Kirk Nieuwenhuis, pulling Milwaukee within 9-7.

After Ramon Flores took a third strike, Hernan Perez's grounder to short scored Hill to cut the deficit to one. Jonathan Villar worked a walk to set the stage for Maldonado. But Oh ended the sudden suspense and posted his second save in as many days.

"It's an easy game to kind of stop with the rain and everything, but they don't make any excuses for anything and continued to battle through it," Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. "I'm proud of the guys for doing that."

But Milwaukee just did too much to itself in the final analysis. Although it outhit St. Louis 16-11, its six pitchers teamed up for eight walks, five from starter Chase Anderson (4-9). Reliever Michael Blazek doled out two free passes in the sixth to set up the day's big hit.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Cardinals right fielder Stephen Piscotty pounded a 3-2 fastball from Blaine Boyer 425 feet into the third deck in left field for his second grand slam of the season and 10th homer of the year.

It continued an amazing run of success for Piscotty with three men aboard. In 15 big-league at-bats in that situation, he owns eight hits and 18 RBI.

"I just try not to do too much and get pitches down the middle," Piscotty said of hitting with the bases loaded. "In that at-bat, I got behind and fought back, and he had to throw me a strike, so I was able to be a bit more aggressive."

While Piscotty cashed in with the sacks packed, St. Louis starter Michael Wacha was able to avoid serious damage in a similar spot.

Facing Aaron Hill in the fifth, Wacha fell behind 3-1. But on his 93rd and last pitch of the day, Wacha induced an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play, and when the Cardinals took the lead in their half of the fifth with two runs, Wacha was the beneficiary.

Wacha (5-7) improved to 3-0 in his last five starts, allowing nine hits and two runs with a walk and six strikeouts.

Anderson lasted just 4 1/3 innings, yielding four hits and three runs while fanning two.

Besides the official delays, the game was stopped for 14 minutes after the top of the sixth inning so that the grounds crew could toss multiple bags of Diamond Dry on an infield that had puddles behind first and third base.

"They did the best they could to make the field playable," Counsell said. "There was nothing you could really do. Just miserable weather today."

St. Louis (43-38) has won seven of its nine meetings with the Brewers this year, outscoring them 57-24.

NOTES: St. Louis signed 13 international free agents Saturday, the headliners being 16-year OF Victor Garcia of Venezuela and 18-year old Cuban P Johan Oviedo. The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Oviedo is seen as a potential front-line starting pitcher. ... Milwaukee SS Jonathan Villar has reached base safely in 68 of 78 games, which ranks seventh in the National League by percentage at just above 87 percent. ... Despite being just five games above .500 after Sunday's game, the Cardinals rank third in the league in run differential at plus 82.