Cardinals continue late surge
Adam Wainwright has dominated most of his foes since the all-star break. He's been especially tough on the team from his home state.
Wainwright, who is from St. Simon, Ga., beat visiting Atlanta for the second straight start with 7 sharp innings, Juan Encarnacion homered and the St. Louis Cardinals handed the Braves their fifth loss in six games, 4-1 on Sunday.
Wainwright is 5-2 with a 2.51 ERA in nine starts since the break. On Sunday, he held the Braves to a run and 6 hits with a walk and 5 strikeouts, a near mirror image of his July 20 victory at Atlanta, when he also held the Braves to a run and 6 hits in 7 innings, with 2 walks and 7 strikeouts.
"I've got a bunch of guys I keep very close contact with and they're still some of my best friends in the world over there," Wainwright said. "So, some bragging rights the last two times in my favor."
Yadier Molina and So Taguchi each drove in a run in a three-run fifth off Jo-Jo Reyes (0-2) for the Cardinals, who took two of three in the series. The defending World Series champions are one game below .500 for the second time during a 4-2 homestand. The Cardinals have not reached .500 since they were 6-6 on April 16.
"The thing about that is, all the people we were pronounced dead to were not in this clubhouse," Wainwright told reporters. "They're in here now, all of you guys are in here.
"We've still got a ways to go but we've played ourselves back into contention."
St. Louis is now 2 games behind the Cubs in the NL Central.
"I just know we have more plusses than problems, and that hasn't been true quite a bit of the year," manager Tony La Russa said. "So we're having some fun."
Mark Teixeira had 2 hits, and Brian McCann had an RBI single in the sixth for the Braves, who played without Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones, both nursing minor injuries.
"It's real simple when you get right down to it," manager Bobby Cox said. "You have to win some ballgames and some other teams have to lose some, and you keep grinding."
Phillies 14, Padres 2: Ryan Howard homered and drove in 4 runs as host Philadelphia snapped a four-game losing streak with a rout of San Diego.
Howard, the reigning National League MVP, ended a season-high 11-game homerless drought and finished with 3 hits and 3 runs scored.
Jayson Werth went 5-for-5 with 4 RBI, and Chris Coste hit a 3-run homer for the Phillies.
Rockies 10, Nationals 5: Matt Holliday homered, doubled and drove in 3 runs, and Colorado finished off a sweep of visiting Washington to move back within 3½ games of San Diego in the NL wild-card race.
Elmer Dessens (2-1) gave up 1 run and 3 hits in 6 innings for his first Rockies win.
Reds 9, Marlins 3: Catcher Ryan Jorgensen's first grand slam helped 29-year-old Tom Shearn win his long-awaited major-league debut, and host Cincinnati beat Florida for its sixth straight win.
The rookie pitcher and his minor-league catcher kept the Reds on their best surge of the season. Since interim manager Pete Mackanin took over on July 3, Cincinnati has the NL's best record at 29-19.
Dodgers 6, Mets 2: David Wells pitched 5 effective innings in his Dodgers debut, and visiting Los Angeles salvaged the finale of the three-game series.
Juan Pierre and Matt Kemp each had 2 hits and 2 RBI for the Dodgers, who pulled within 3½ games of wild card-leading San Diego.
Astros 5, Pirates 4: Ty Wigginton hit a go-ahead 2-run homer in the eighth inning, and host Houston rallied to avoid a sweep by Pittsburgh.
It was Wigginton's third home run since coming to the Astros in a July 28 trade with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.