St. Louis Cardinals win 6-2 over Atlanta Braves

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One day after barely winning, the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves handily with a 6-2 win.
Aug 22, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Joe Kelly (58) pitches in the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Busch Stadium. Image Credit: Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports
Scoreless through 3 and a half innings, the Cards got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning when David Freese knocked in Matt Holliday on a ground-out.

The Braves took a 2-1 lead in the top of the fifth when Justin Upton went yard but there was no looking back after that.

In the bottom frame, the Cards had 3 consecutive RBI doubles from Matt Carpenter, Carlos Beltran, and Holliday. Those doubles scored Pete Kozma, Carpenter, and Beltran, respectively.

In the sixth inning, Shane Robinson scored on a wild pitch to make it a 5-2 game.

In the seventh inning, Freese knocked in Carpenter on a single and it was then a 6-2 game.

Catcher Yadier Molina had the day off and is now the outright National League batting leader with a .332 average. Braves third baseman Chris Johnson went 0-3 at the plate and drops his batting average to .330 this season.

With Carpenter’s two runs, he has now scored 92 runs this season. He leads the National League overall in runs as Cincinnati Reds outfielder Shin-Soo Choo is in second place with 85 runs. Carpenter also has the outright Major League Baseball lead by 3 runs. Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis has scored 91 times this season.

Joe Kelly pitched 6 innings and picked up his 5th win of the season. He allowed 7 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, and struck out 3 batters.

Kevin Siegrist pitched the 7th inning and drops to a 0.67 ERA. He struck out one and walked one. Michael Wacha pitched the 8th inning, where he allowed one hit and struck out a batter. Trevor Rosenthal closed things out in the ninth but allowed a hit.

After a horrible stretch off losses, the Cards have won 8 of their last 11 games played. The Cards are a half game back of the Pittsburgh Pirates following the conclusion of the win over the Braves. A Pirates loss to the San Francisco Giants would tie them for the NL Central lead.