MILWAUKEE -- You can’t win ’em all, and while the Cardinals’ 4-1 loss to the Brewers at Miller Park on Wednesday afternoon snapped their winning streak at six games, the Redbirds will return to St. Louis satisfied with another series victory -- and still on top of the National League Central Division.

“Any time you can win a series, it's huge,” second baseman Kolten Wong said. “To expect a sweep at this level is tough. Getting them is amazing but winning series, that's the No. 1 goal.”

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The Cardinals came into the series finale looking for a second consecutive sweep behind an offense that had been averaging 8.2 runs per game during its winning streak. Instead, Brewers right-hander Jordan Lyles (9-8) held St. Louis’ bats in check, striking out nine batters while scattering six hits and a walk over 5 1/3 innings of work.

“He's pitched us tough every time we've faced him except the last time when he was still with Pittsburgh,” Wong said. “He's a good pitcher. He did really well keeping us off-balance and staying out of the middle, so hat's off to him. It was still a good series for us.”

Wong provided St. Louis’ lone offensive bright spot, going 3-for-4 and finishing a triple short of the cycle as he returned to the starting lineup for the first time since fouling a pitch off his right foot Saturday against the Rockies.

He suffered a momentary scare in the sixth when he fouled another pitch off his left foot but recovered quickly, pulling a 1-2 hanging slider from Lyles for his 10th home run of the season.

“I was laughing because my right toe was covered up and then I hit my left foot,” Wong said. “I thought, 'this is incredible.' But I tried to stay in there mentally, not let it affect me, and I got to the ball.”

Wong is 5-for-6 with two doubles, a home run and three RBIs since returning to action as a pinch-hitter late in Tuesday night’s game.

“He mentally stayed with it and was looking forward to getting back in the competition,” manager Mike Shildt said. “That’s not easy to do when you’ve taken a blow like that [toe injury].”

Milwaukee’s offense, meanwhile, managed just enough against Cardinals right-hander Jack Flaherty (8-7) to keep the brooms at bay. Flaherty struck out seven over six innings of work, while allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk as he took a loss for the first time since July 7.

“They put together some good at-bats, but I just tried to keep them right there and keep us in the game,” said Flaherty, who allowed the leadoff batter to reach base and score in three of his first four innings of work, though he limited the Brewers to just two hits and struck out four of eight batters in his final two innings.

“He did a great job, made pitches and just minimized the little bit of damage that was out there,” Shildt said.

The loss was just the second in the Cardinals’ last 11 games and the fourth during a stretch of 16 consecutive games without a day off that comes to an end on Thursday, before St. Louis welcomes the Reds to town for a weekend series at Busch Stadium.

“We played really well the whole stretch,” Shildt said. “This group likes to play, though. This group will play in a back field or a parking lot if that’s where you tell us to play. It’s a bunch of guys that love baseball. And we’ve got some mentally tough, physically tough guys.”

The Cardinals still lead the NL Central by two games over the Cubs -- who beat the Mets on Wednesday night in New York -- and having pushed third-place Milwaukee 5 1/2 games back in the division standings.

They’ll face the Brewers once more this season, in a three-game series Sept. 13-15 in St. Louis.