Cardinals 4, Braves 2

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[July 25, 2015]  ST. LOUIS -- In his sixth big league start, St. Louis Cardinals left-hander Tim Cooney finally experienced his first big league win.

Cruising through seven innings Friday night, Cooney dispatched the Atlanta Braves 4-2 at sold-out Busch Stadium.

Throwing 53 of his 74 pitches for strikes, Cooney (1-0) gave up just five hits and two runs, walking none and fanning five. Cooney went to three balls on only one of the 25 hitters he faced and threw no more than 15 pitches in any inning.

With closer Trevor Rosenthal unavailable after earning saves on three straight nights, Kevin Siegrist pitched the ninth for his fifth save of the year, striking out left fielder Jonny Gomes with the tying runs on base to end it.

Rookie left-hander Manny Banuelos (1-2) gave up six hits and four runs in five-plus innings, walking three and whiffing three, as Atlanta dropped to 45-51 in the opener of a 10-game road trip.
 


Center fielder Cameron Maybin was responsible for the Braves' two runs in the sixth, doubling home shortstop Andrelton Simmons and then scoring on a two-out wild pitch.

But that wasn't nearly enough to keep St. Louis (62-34) from upping its home record to 35-12 and maintaining a six-game lead on Pittsburgh, a 7-5 winner over Washington, in the National League Central.

Center fielder Randal Grichuk belted a two-run homer in the bottom of the second for the second straight night, opening the scoring for St. Louis. The first-pitch homer traveled 421 feet to the last row in the lower bowl in left field.

Shortstop Jhonny Peralta made it 3-0 in the third with an RBI single to center that scored third baseman Matt Carpenter, who had started the two-out rally with a double before a nine-pitch walk by left fielder Matt Holliday.

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The Cardinals added another run in the fourth as first baseman Mark Reynolds lined a two-strike, run-scoring single to right-center. It scored Grichuk, who had singled with one out and promptly stole second.

NOTES: St. Louis traded for RHP Steve Cishek on Friday, sending Double-A RHP Kyle Barraclough to the Miami Marlins. Cishek is 2-6 with a 4.50 ERA and three saves in 32 games for the Marlins but has pitched to an 0.71 ERA in 13 games since returning from Double-A Jacksonville last month. ... Atlanta pulled 3B Juan Uribe from the lineup amid reports it was trading him and INF Kelly Johnson to the New York Mets. ... The Cardinals transferred RHP Matt Belisle (right elbow) from the 15-day DL to the 60-day DL to make room for Cishek.

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