The St Louis Cardinals bullpen were unable to hold back the once-reeling Atlanta Braves, allowing three runs in the eighth and the winning run in the ninth to drop Saturday’s 7-6 contest at Busch Stadium.
The Braves struck first, with Ronald Acuña Jr’s 12th home run of the year, a solo shot to left-center. Marcell Ozuna added a solo shot to lead off the second, also to left-center. After a pair of singles, Michael Harris II’s groundout allowed Ollie Albes to score. The Cardinals would bail out starting pitcher Erich Fedde after Thomas Saggese singled home Yohel Pozo in the home half of the inning, then came home on Nolan Gorman’s ninth home run of the year.
The Cardinals would take the lead in the bottom of the sixth with Pozo’s fourth home run of the year. Brendan Donovan brought home Gorman in the next inning with an RBI single. The lead would go away with a swing of Sean Murphy’s bat with one out in the eighth, sending a three-run home run to left field, dealing Phil Maton his second blown save of the season. The Braves would give the Cardinals a chance minutes later, when Daysbel Hernández loaded the bases with a walk to Saggese, then delivered a wild pitch that scored Garrett Hampson to tie the game. Hernández regrouped to get Gorman to strike out swinging.
The Cardinals turned to closer Ryan Helsley to hold off the Braves in the ninth, only for a leadoff single to Nacho Alvarez Junior to end up making him the winning run after Jurickson Profar’s groundout. Braves closer Raisel Iglesias secured his 11th save of the season with a strikeout of Donovan and two groundouts.
Helsley suffered his first loss of the season, allowing the one run on two hits, while Hernández picked up the win, allowing his lone run on three walks but striking out two in one inning. Erich Fedde again had a rocky start for the Cardinals, allowing three runs on six hits along with a walk and two punchouts in 4.2 innings.
The Cardinals now fall to 50-46, six-and-a-half games behind the Cubs for the NL Central lead and two-and-a-half games behind San Diego for the third wild card. Sonny Gray will start for the Cardinals, with first pitch at 1:15 p.m.