MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - The St Louis Cardinals were unable to deliver a celebratory victory for manager Tony La Russa in his 5,000th game, falling to a disappointing 8-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday.

The 66-year-old has won 2,676 games with the Chicago White Sox, Oakland A's and the Cardinals over a 33-year career but was unable to add to that tally as his team were soundly beaten in Milwaukee.

La Russa is the second manager to reach the 5,000-game milestone but remains a long way behind Connie Mack's phenomenal 7,755 contests in charge of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Athletics.

"The old coaching adage is probably the best one of all. You never enjoy the wins like you suffer the losses," LaRussa told reporters. "So 2,000 (2,320) losses is much worse than whatever the wins are. That's just the nature of coaching."

Milwaukee starter Chris Narveson held the Cardinals to six hits through eight scoreless innings and struck out six batters.

Ryan Braun put the game out of reach with a two-run homer in the fifth inning and Corey Hart hit a solo shot in the sixth.

(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario)