Beachy, Bourn lead Braves to 7-2 win over Cards
ST. LOUIS — Brandon Beachy pitched six innings of one-run ball and helped himself with an RBI single, Michael Bourn added a solo homer and the Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-2 Saturday night.
Beachy (4-1) allowed only two singles and lowered his ERA to 1.60, fifth best in the NL. He struck out six and walked four.
Bourn went 3 for 6 with two RBIs and two runs scored, and the homer was his first since Aug. 19, 2011, against Arizona.
Dan Uggla was on base four times with two hits and two walks for the Braves. He scored twice and drove in a run. Brian McCann also contributed two hits, two RBIs and a run scored for the Braves, who are 21-9 in their last 30 games.
Rafael Furcal had two hits for the Cardinals, including an RBI single, to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.
Atlanta did most of its damage against Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright (2-4). Wainwright had won all six career starts he’d made against his former team, but he lasted just 4 1-3 innings, allowing five runs on nine hits, with five walks and five strikeouts.
Wainwright, who made 108 pitches overall, threw 30 pitches before recording an out. That came when he struck out the game’s sixth hitter, Chipper Jones, on his 31st pitch.
Prior to getting Jones, Wainwright allowed singles to Bourn and Martin Prado and a walk to Freddie Freeman to load the bases. Walks to Uggla and McCann forced in runs, but Wainwright was able to escape the inning without any further damage.
After McCann doubled home a run in the third, Atlanta put Wainwright out of his misery in the fifth. The Braves loaded the bases with no out on singles by Uggla and McCann and a walk to Jones. Wainwright struck out Jason Heyward, but Tyler Pastornicky and Beachy followed with run-scoring singles to make it 5-0 and chase Wainwright.
Allen Craig broke Beachy’s shutout with a sacrifice fly in the sixth, but Bourn gave the Braves their five-run lead back with a leadoff homer off Cards reliever J.C. Romero in the eighth.
NOTES: Cardinals 2B Tyler Greene is in an 0-for-15 tailspin after going hitless in three at-bats. ... After not winning in St. Louis since Sept. 13, 2009 (seven games), the Braves have won two in a row at Busch Stadium and look for the sweep behind Tommy Hanson (3-3) Sunday. ... The Cardinals’ Carlos Beltran had his six-game hitting streak snapped. Beltran was 11 for 26 (.420) with 5 home runs in that stretch. ... Bourn is 6 for 12 in the series.