St. Louis Cardinals fall to Atlanta Braves

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The St. Louis Cardinals faced the Atlanta Braves this weekend and lost back-to-back games to the National League East Division leaders.
Jul 26, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina (4) follows the ball after hitting a home run against the Atlanta Braves during the second inning at Turner Field. Image Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
The Cards sent Adam Wainwright to the mound on Friday and Joe Kelly, who has taken a spot in the rotation as of late, on Saturday afternoon. Wainwright did not have a great game while Kelly was solid through 6.1 innings pitched.

On Friday, Wainwright picked up the loss and moved to 13-6 on the season with a 2.51 ERA. He pitched 7 innings but the offense was limited in run support as Mike Minor limited the Cardinals offense to 4 hits. Wainwright allowed 7 hits, 4 runs (3 earned), 1 walk, and struck out 8 batters. Wainwright gave up a solo home run in the 5th inning to Jason Heyward.

Randy Choate came on to relieve Wainwright at the start of the 8th inning, where he allowed a hit and struck out a batter.

Other than a home run from Yadier Molina, the Cards just could not get it done on Friday.

Saturday afternoon saw a pitching duel between Kelly and Julio Teheran. Kelly allowed 7 hits while Teheran limited the Cardinals offense to just 2 hits. Neither allowed any runs. Kelly walked 3 and struck out 3 batters. Teheran walked one Cardinal and struck out 6 Cards.

Choate was brought on in the 8th inning to take care of the left-handed hitters but allowed Freddie Freeman to reach base on a walk and Brian McCann on a single. With two on, Trevor Rosenthal was brought out of the bullpen. Rosenthal allowed both runners to score on Andrelton Simmons‘ 12th double of the season. Those were all the runs that would score in the Braves 2-0 win over the Cardinals.

The Cards will face the Braves during Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN tomorrow night. Shelby Miller (10-6, 2.77 ERA) will face Kris Medlen (6-10, 3.78 ERA). Medlen has struggled since he faced the Dodgers on June 8th. Since that time, he has posted a 5.53 ERA.