St. Louis @ Atlanta preview
Turner Field
Last Meeting ( Sep 10, 2010 ) St. Louis 6, Atlanta 8
The Atlanta Braves showed they have some fight in them on Friday night. They’re going to need all they can muster in a tight National League playoff race.
The Braves will be looking to maintain their hold on the wild card lead when they face the St. Louis Cardinals again on Saturday.
Trailing, 4-2, with Chris Carpenter on the mound on Friday, Atlanta looked like it was in danger of dropping a game in the wild card standings and falling a full two back of the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. But the Braves refused to quit, starting the sixth inning with four straight hits to tie the game before taking the lead when Brian McCann’s drive to left field was misplayed by rookie John Jay, allowing two more runs to score.
Atlanta would add two more in the six-run frame and hold on for an 8-6 victory.
With the San Francisco Giants winning on Friday, the Braves held their one-game lead in the wild card race and remain one game behind the Phillies in the NL East.
The Cardinals missed an opportunity to pull within 4 1/2 games of the wild card, instead falling 6 1/2 back with just 23 games remaining on the schedule. They trail the Cincinnati Reds by six games in the NL Central.
Atlanta will be looking to maintain its tenuous grip on a playoff spot behind right-hander Tommy Hanson on Saturday.
The 24-year-old has just one win since the All-Star break despite allowing three runs or less in 10 of his last 12 outings. He is coming off a tough loss at the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday in which he was charged with three runs - two earned - and four hits in six innings.
Already at a career high in innings pitched, the Braves don’t have the luxury of giving Hanson extra rest down the stretch because of the close races for postseason berths. He has never faced the Cardinals in his brief career.
St. Louis will counter with right-hander Jake Westbrook. The veteran sinkerballer has had the same problem as Hanson since joining the Cardinals - a lack of run support.
Westbrook has gone at least six innings in all seven of his starts since coming over at the trade deadline and has allowed three earned runs or less in six of those starts. As a result, however, he only has one win to show for his efforts.
Westbrook went six innings at the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday, yielding two runs and five hits, but did not factor in the decision.
He has faced the Braves once in his career - during interleague play when he was with the Cleveland Indians - and gave up four runs in five innings to suffer a loss.