Charlie Morton turned in a good performance and Eddie Rosario and Ozzie Albies came through late to help the Atlanta Braves to a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader.
Morton got his afternoon off to a good start by retiring the first seven hitters he faced to start the game. Pedro Pages and Michael Siani snapped the streak with back-to-back singles in the third, but Morton came back and struck out Masyn Winn and Alec Burleson to keep the game scoreless.
Willson Contreras singled to start the fourth, but he was gunned down by Jarred Kelenic as he tried to stretch it to a double. Morton then walked Paul Goldschmidt but got Brendan Donovan to ground into a double play to end the inning.
The Braves’ offense struggled to get anything going against Cardinals starter Kyle Gibson. Travis d’Arnaud singled with one out in the second but was left stranded. Austin Riley singled to start the fourth, but Matt Olson flew out before Marcell Ozuna bounced into a double play.
Morton allowed a one out single to Lars Nootbar in the fifth but retired Pages on a ground out and then struck out Siani swinging to keep the game scoreless.
The Cardinals finally broke through in the sixth. Winn sent a grounder to right that Adam Duvall misplayed in the corner. The official scorer ruled it a triple which was one of the worst scoring decisions we have seen this season. Burleson followed with a single to right to put St. Louis in front 1-0. Morton retired the next three hitters in order and would exit to start the seventh.
It was a good outing for Morton who allowed six hits a walk and one run over six innings. He struck out four while throwing 94 pitches.
Dylan Lee took over for Atlanta in the seventh and promptly served up a solo home run to Nolan Arenado to push the deficit to 2-0.
The Braves finally made some noise in the seventh. Gibson retired the first two hitters to start the inning before d’Arnaud singled to left. That would be it for Gibson as the Cardinals would go to the bullpen for Ryan Fernandez. Rosario greeted him with a two-run home run that made it just over the wall in right to tie the game.
Joe Jimenez worked a scoreless eighth and the Braves threatened again. Orlando Arcia walked to lead off the inning and was replaced by pinch-runner Zack Short. Kelenic, who is in the midst of an 0-for-25 stretch, elected to drop down a bunt and move Short to second. However, the move wouldn’t work out as Ozzie Albies flew out before Riley went down swinging to leave Short stranded.
Raisel Iglesias worked around a two-out walk to keep the game tied in the ninth. Atlanta again threatened to walk it off as Marcell Ozuna singled with one out. Ozuna was replaced by pinch-runner Eli White who advanced all the way to third on another single by d’Arnaud. However, the Braves were again unable to come up with a key hit as Andrew Kittredge struck out Rosario and then got Duvall to fly out to send the game into extra innings.
Pierce Johnson entered the game in the 10th and struck out pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter to start the inning. Winn followed with a single to left that put runners at the corners. Burleson then sent a sharp liner right to Olson at first who snagged it and stepped on the base for an inning-ending double play.
The Braves would finally come through in the 10th. Duvall began the inning at second base and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Short. Kelenic worked a walk before Albies sent a fly ball to the outfield that scored Duvall to give Atlanta a walk-off win.
The Braves begin the second half with a win and improve to 54-42 for the season. They will face the Cardinals again in the night cap with Bryce Elder matching up against Sonny Gray.
