Braves at Cardinals
After flexing their muscles in Friday's series opener, the Atlanta
Braves will look to exact a bit more revenge against the St. Louis
Cardinals on Saturday when the teams reconvene at Busch Stadium. While
Friday's 9-7 victory in 12 innings does little to erase last season's
late-September collapse, the Braves did post their fifth win in seven
outings.
Jason Heyward provided the exclamation point as he
launched a two-run homer in the top of the 12th inning. Carlos Beltran
belted two homers among his four hits for the Cardinals, who saw their
four-game winning streak come to an end.
TV: 7:15 p.m. ET, PTV (Atlanta), FS Midwest (St. Louis)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Braves RH Brandon Beachy (3-1, 1.62 ERA) vs. Cardinals RH Adam Wainwright (2-3, 5.61)
Beachy
has been stingy since yielding four runs in his season-opening start
April 9. The 25-year-old has allowed six earned runs in his last five
outings - including only two on four hits in a victory over Colorado on
Sunday. Beachy did not record a decision in his lone career outings
versus St. Louis, but he pitched well - serving up just two runs on
three hits in seven innings.
Wainwright has won all six career
decisions versus the Braves, limiting the club to a .230 batting average
while registering a 1.14 WHIP. The 30-year-old has won his last two
outings overall, permitting one run and striking out seven in as many
innings against Houston on Sunday.
WALK-OFFS
1. If not for Texas phenom Josh Hamilton,
Beltran's power display would be the talk of baseball. Beltran, who
registered his third multi-homer game in 10 days, has yet to face Beachy
in his career.
2. The Cardinals and Braves rank No. 1 and 2,
respectively, in the National League in runs per game. St. Louis has
scored 37 runs in its last five contests while Atlanta erupted for 44 in
a five-game stretch last week.
3. Although Dan Uggla homered
Friday, he also struck out three times and left a team-leading seven men
on base. Uggla has struggled versus Wainwright, going 2-for-20 with
seven strikeouts.