Cardinals Open Atlanta Series With 5-3 Win Over Braves

The Cardinal Chronicle
Cardinals Open Atlanta Series With 5-3 Win Over Braves
St. Louis, MO
By Ray Mileur

The St. Louis Cardinals needed a road win.

They got one Tuesday night in Atlanta.

After a rough homestand and a frustrating stretch of quiet offense, the Cardinals opened their three-game series against the Braves with a 5-3 win at Truist Park, using a fourth-inning power surge, a productive at-bat from Blaze Jordan, and a needed rebound start from Matthew Liberatore to take the first game of the series.

It was not perfect.

But it was a win against a first-place club on the road, and the Cardinals were in no position to apologize for style points.

Liberatore gave St. Louis exactly what it needed. The left-hander worked five innings, allowing one run on one hit, walking four and striking out nine. It was not a spotless line because the walks kept traffic around the edges, but the swing-and-miss was real, and for a pitcher who badly needed a positive turn, this was an important one.

That was the first encouraging sign of the night.

The second came from the bottom of the lineup.

Atlanta struck first in the third inning when Jorge Mateo reached, stole second, and came home on Ozzie Albies’ sacrifice fly to left. That gave the Braves a 1-0 lead and put the Cardinals in a familiar position — chasing a game early.

This time, St. Louis answered quickly.

Nelson Velázquez led off the fourth inning and jumped on Martín Pérez, driving a solo home run to center field to tie the game at 1-1. It was Velázquez’s third home run of the season, and it gave the Cardinals the kind of immediate response they have too often lacked during this recent stretch.

The inning did not stop there.

Masyn Winn reached, Lars Nootbaar singled, and the Cardinals put two aboard for Nathan Church. Church turned the inning into the game’s defining moment, launching a three-run homer to right field to give St. Louis a 4-1 lead.

That was the swing the Cardinals had been waiting for.

Not just because it put them ahead, but because it came from a player who has been asked to provide value in different ways. Church has not had to be the loudest bat in the lineup to matter. He can defend, run, take a professional at-bat, and on Tuesday night, he delivered the biggest blow of the game.

The Cardinals needed a separator.

Church gave them one.

From there, Liberatore had a lead to protect, and he did his job. He continued to miss bats, worked through his own traffic, and kept Atlanta from turning the game back around. The Braves managed just one hit against him, and while the four walks kept the outing from being completely clean, the strikeout total showed the quality of the stuff.

For five innings, Liberatore looked like a pitcher who could control a game.

That mattered.

The Cardinals added another run in the sixth. Winn walked, stole second, moved into position, and Blaze Jordan lifted a sacrifice fly to bring him home. It was not a big swing, but it was a winning at-bat. In a game that ended by two runs, that kind of situational production mattered.

Jordan did not need to leave the yard to help win the game.

He just needed to get the run in.

The Cardinals led 5-1 at that point, but Atlanta did not go quietly. George Soriano took over in the sixth and handled the first part of the bridge, but the Braves pushed closer in the seventh after JoJo Romero entered.

Mateo reached again, and Albies singled to drive him home, cutting the Cardinals’ lead to 5-2. Atlanta made things more uncomfortable in the eighth when Ryan Fernandez uncorked a wild pitch that allowed another run to score, trimming the lead to 5-3.

That was close enough to make the final stretch uncomfortable.

But the Cardinals had already done enough.

St. Louis finished with five runs on six hits. Velázquez led the way with two hits, including the solo homer. Nootbaar had two hits and scored a run. Winn reached, scored twice and stole a base. Church drove in three with the fourth-inning homer. Jordan added the sacrifice fly.

It was not a deep offensive explosion, but it was timely.

That has been the missing ingredient.

The Cardinals did not pile up 12 hits. They did not overwhelm Atlanta inning after inning. They struck when the chances arrived, and that was the difference. Velázquez answered Atlanta’s first run. Church turned the fourth inning into a crooked number. Jordan added the insurance run.

That was enough because the pitching finally gave the offense room to breathe.

Atlanta finished with three runs on five hits. Albies drove in two of the Braves’ three runs. Mateo scored twice and stole a base. But the middle of the Braves’ order did not take over the game, and that was a credit to the Cardinals’ pitching staff.

The win was especially important because of where the Cardinals were coming from.

The series against Miami had been ugly offensively. The Cardinals were shut out Friday, held to one run Saturday, and had to grind out a 2-1 win Sunday just to avoid being swept. They entered Atlanta needing something cleaner, something sharper, and something that looked like a club capable of resetting on the road.

Tuesday was not a perfect reset.

But it was a start.

Liberatore’s outing was the headline on the pitching side. Church’s homer was the headline on the offensive side. Velázquez gave the Cardinals a needed jolt. Jordan provided the useful run-scoring out. The bullpen made things tighter than necessary but still kept Atlanta from coming all the way back.

That is how a team opens a road series the right way.

There will still be things to clean up. The walks from Liberatore kept his pitch count high. The late innings got uncomfortable. The Cardinals still did not get much from the top three spots in the order. There are always details to work through.

But after the way the past week had gone, the Cardinals needed a win more than they needed a masterpiece.

They got the win.

The Cardinal Chronicle, in association with Gateway Sports & MiLB Today
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Photo Credit: Matthew Liberatore, St. Louis Cardinals | MLB