Brewers 8, Reds 1: Ryan Braun belted a two-run homer, Aramis Ramirez collected his 100th RBI and Shaun Marcum won for the first time since June 8 as visiting Milwaukee kept its faint postseason hopes alive by toppling Cincinnati.

Norichika Aoki and Jonathan Lucroy each homered among their three hits for the Brewers, who ended a two-game slide to move 3 1/2 games behind St. Louis in the race for the second wild card in the National League. The Cardinals dropped a 2-0 decision to Houston later Wednesday.

The high-octane offense was more than enough for Marcum (6-4), who allowed one run on four hits and struck out seven in six solid innings.

Joey Votto had an RBI double off the top of the wall in the first inning for the Reds, who fell into a tie with Washington in the race for home-field advantage throughout the postseason. The Nationals doubled Philadelphia 8-4 on Wednesday.

After Aoki tied the game with his shot over the right-field wall in the third inning, Ramirez came up three batters later and ripped a fastball from Bronson Arroyo (12-9) off the glove of shortstop Zack Cozart for an RBI single. Rickie Weeks came around to score and Corey Hart followed with an RBI single to plate Braun as Milwaukee claimed a 3-1 lead.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Braun crushed his 41st homer to straightaway center field off reliever Logan Ondrusek. The seventh-inning blast was Braun's first since be belted two against the New York Mets on Sept. 16. ... Milwaukee hasn't dropped three in a row since Aug. 13-15. ... Arroyo saw his three-game home winning streak come to an end after yielding four runs on eight hits in six innings.