Cardinals 4, Braves 3
Matt Carpenter drove in two runs and Shelby Miller pitched five solid innings as visiting St. Louis handed Atlanta its seventh consecutive defeat.
Carpenter – who delivered a two-run double in the fifth inning – joined Jhonny Peralta and Peter Bourjos with two hits. Miller (4-2) gave up two runs on six hits and three relievers bridged the gap to Trevor Rosenthal, who wiggled out of a jam in the ninth for his ninth save.
Ramiro Pena went 2-for-4 with a solo homer for struggling Atlanta, which also got two hits apiece from Freddie Freeman and Evan Gattis. Aaron Harang (3-3) allowed four runs – two earned – on nine hits with six strikeouts in six innings.
Bourjos singled and Mark Ellis reached on shortstop Andrelton Simmons’ error to start the fifth, and Carpenter’s double to center snapped a scoreless tie. Matt Holliday’s RBI single to left with two outs made it 3-0, and Bourjos plated Allen Craig in the sixth with a base hit to right-center.
Atlanta halved the deficit in the bottom half on Gattis’ RBI single to right and B.J. Upton’s sacrifice fly. Pena hit his second homer of the season in the seventh, a one-out shot to left-center off Kevin Siegrist, but the Braves stranded two baserunners in the ninth when Rosenthal struck out Justin Upton to end the contest.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez, looking to jump-start his offense, batted Harang eighth and Pena – who started for struggling 2B Dan Uggla, in the ninth spot. … Cardinals C Yadier Molina extended his hitting streak to seven games with a third-inning single. … Freeman snapped a 4-for-32 skid with his two hits.