MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

Game played July 22, 2007

St. Louis ended a less-than-stellar road trip with a big win over the Braves, 7-2, on Skip Schumaker’s home run in the tenth inning off Atlanta reliever Tyler Yates and Scott Rolen’s follow-up homer against Oscar Villarreal, to assure a 2-2 split of the four-game set and take five of ten on the road trip overall.

With the game tied at two apiece in the Cardinals tenth, St. Louis went right to work. Aaron Miles led off with a single to center field, and, one out later, Schumaker hooked a shot down the right field line to take a 4-2 advantage. Later, after an Albert Pujols walk and a Juan Encarnacion single to left, Rolen, in his first game back after missing four contests with shoulder trouble, hit a two-out jack just over the left-field wall to add some insurance, closing things out at 7-2 after Jason Isringhausen (4-0) pitched the second of his two dominating innings of relief to secure the win.

Down 2-1 in the top of the eighth, Pujols tied things up with a two-out solo homer to left off Braves outfielder Willie Harris’ glove, making it 2-2. In the bottom of the frame, the bases were loaded with two out for Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who could only manage a broken-bat popout to St. Louis shortstop David Eckstein, ending the threat and leaving the bases juiced.

Atlanta had jumped out to a lead in the third, backing starting pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes, who worked 5 1/3 innings in his third career big-league start, yielding only three hits and one run, with four walks and three strikeouts. Edgar Renteria knocked a two-out single up the middle off the second-base bag, and Chipper Jones doubled to the left-center wall, scoring Renteria and taking a 1-0 lead. Then, in the fourth, Kelly Johnson hit a leadoff homer to right, doubling the advantage to 2-0. The Cardinals finally dented the scoreboard in the sixth, with So Taguchi scoring on Encarnacion’s groundout after reaching on a single of his own off Braves first baseman Julio Franco’s glove.

For the Cardinals, Pujols and Rolen each recorded two base knocks and one homer. Defensively, Yadier Molina threw Harris out at second twice, each time on an interesting call. On the mound, starter Brad Thompson worked six innings giving up six hits and two runs, walking three and striking out two. Ryan Franklin held down the fort for two innings out of the pen, giving up two hits and walking two but allowing no runs while striking out two Braves, and Isringhausen slammed the door on Atlanta with two perfect innings of relief, with four punchouts. The Braves’ Renteria, Jeff Francoeur, and Saltalamacchia each got two hits, and on the bump, Peter Moylan held down the lead for Reyes for 1 2/3 innings, but Rafael Soriano sustained his third blown save after Pujols’ homer, and Bob Wickman worked a frame before Yates (2-2) came on.

The 45-50 Cardinals go back home for the first time since the All-Star Break to face the Cubs in a three-game series, beginning Tuesday evening with Kip Wells slated to start. 52-47 Atlanta begins a seven-game West Coast swing with a Monday night contest in San Francisco, as Barry Bonds continues to chase Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record, in the first of a four-game set, with John Smoltz scheduled to kick the series off. The Cardinals continue to stare up in the NL Central at Milwaukee and the Cubs, standing 8.5 games back of the Brewers and five behind Chicago, while the Braves are 3.5 back of the Mets in the East.

Video credit- ESPN