The combination of a brawl and the Cardinals battling for first place generated the highest rating ever for any program shown on Fox Sports Midwest, as 17.6 percent of homes with a TV in the St. Louis market tuned in to the Cards-Reds game Tuesday night.

It topped the list by a wide margin over the previous high rating of 14.7 for the game in September 2000 when the Redbirds clinched the NL Central title. FSM is in its 14th season televising the team.

The rating Tuesday from The Nielsen Co. probably would have been even higher had the game begun later; it started at 6:10 p.m., when many fans still hadn't arrived home. The figure for the period in which the brouhaha took place (6:15-6:45 p.m.) was 13.3; then the number rose as the night wore on, peaking at 21.9 in the ninth inning as the Cardinals wrapped up a victory that moved them to the top of the NL Central standings.

Overall, the game was the second-highest-rated Cards contest this season — trailing the 18.3 figure for a 20-inning game against the Mets in April, shown on KTVI (Channel 2). That was part of the Fox network's schedule of regional telecasts.

(Games on over-the-air TV traditionally are rated higher than those on cable/satellite. For instance, in the Cards' local package, FSM is averaging a 9.9 rating for its telecasts and KSDK (Channel 5) is at 13.6. The Redbirds games Fox has shown, on Channel 2, average a 12.9 rating in the St. Louis market.

The big numbers Tuesday held up for the postgame show, which featured fight discussion and video. It drew an 8.4 rating; the average rating for the wrap-up program is 2.9 for night games.

Figures for Wednesday afternoon's Card-Reds series finale were not immediately available.