Atlanta Braves See Multiple Key Developments in Win Over Cardinals

The Atlanta Braves evened their series with the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night, riding an Ozzie Albies home run and a two-hit pitching performance to a 5-1 win at Truist Park. A crowd of 27,361 watched Atlanta strike out 11 Cardinals in a game that lasted 2 hours and 16 minutes.

St. Louis grabbed the early lead when Ivan Herrera opened the game with a ground-rule double and scored on Jordan Walker’s single to right. Atlanta answered in the bottom half, as Drake Baldwin singled to center and came home on Albies’ double, though Albies was thrown out trying to take third on the play.

Facing St. Louis starter Michael McGreevy in the third, Albies gave the Braves the lead for good with a 380-foot solo home run to right-center. The homer was his 13th of the season, and he finished the night 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and two RBIs. Through Wednesday, Albies is batting .276 with 48 RBIs in 84 games this season.

Making his second start since rejoining the rotation, Reynaldo Lopez held the Cardinals to one run on two hits over five innings, walking one and striking out six. Lopez lost his starting job in April, but the win moved him to 4-1 with a 3.31 ERA and 46 strikeouts in 51.2 innings across 20 appearances this season.

Four relievers finished what Lopez started. Dylan Dodd, Didier Fuentes, Dylan Lee and Raisel Iglesias worked an inning apiece, combining for four hitless frames with no walks and five strikeouts. Atlanta’s bullpen entered Wednesday with a 2.76 ERA, the best mark in the major leagues.

The Braves cruised past a Cardinals lineup that went silent after JJ Wetherholt’s walk in the third, setting down the last 20 hitters St. Louis sent to the plate.

The score held at 2-1 until the bottom of the eighth, when Atlanta put up three runs against relievers Justin Bruihl and Gordon Graceffo. Baldwin drew a leadoff walk, took second on a Blaze Jordan fielding error as Albies reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced to third on Matt Olson’s fly ball to right and scored on Michael Harris II’s single to center.

Mauricio Dubon then dropped a sacrifice bunt that brought Albies home from third, reaching safely himself on the play, and Austin Riley singled to left to bring in Dubon for the 5-1 final. Jordan was charged with both St. Louis errors on the night, while McGreevy took the loss to fall to 3-7 after allowing two runs on three hits over six innings.

The win moved Atlanta to 50-34 and, as of late Wednesday night, gave the club a 2 1/2-game lead in the NL East over the 49-38 Philadelphia Phillies, while St. Louis dropped to 44-39. It was just the fifth Braves win in their last 18 games, a stretch Atlanta has weathered without falling out of first place.

St. Louis took Tuesday’s opener 5-3, so Thursday’s finale will decide the series. Hurston Waldrep (0-0) is scheduled to start for Atlanta opposite Dustin May (5-6), with first pitch set for 7:15 p.m. at Truist Park.