The St. Louis Cardinals rallied from a 5-0 deficit to tie the game in the sixth inning only to have the Atlanta Braves rally with three more runs in the bottom of the frame and go on from there for a 10-7 win over the Cardinals.
Freddie Freeman, who missed four games with vision problems, led the Braves as he homered and drove in three runs. Wearing glasses, Freeman broke out of a slump with three hits including his eighth homer in the first, a run-scoring double in the third and a run-scoring single in the eighth.
The Braves broke the 5-5 tie with three runs on four hits off Mark Rzepczynski (0-3) in the sixth, who took the loss. The Braves added two runs in the eighth off Jason Motte, who walked Eric Hinske and Michael Bourn. Dan Uggla drove in a run with a sac fly, and Freeman finished the scoring by knocking in Bourn.
Rafael Furcal led off the fourth with a single for the Cardinals’ first hit. Matt Holliday drove in Furcal with a one-out single. Tyler Green’s two-run, bases-loaded single came in the Cardinals’ four-run sixth off Tim Hudson. Holliday and Daniel Descalso also had RBI singles. Hudson gave up five runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings. Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse allowed five runs on nine hits in five innings.
Injury notes: Right fielder Skip Schumaker left the game after the sixth inning with tightness in his right hamstring. Jaime Garcia returned to St. Louis on Tuesday for an MRI on his elbow early Wednesday. Matheny said the MRI was clear, but Garcia’s scheduled start Friday at the Mets will be skipped. Manager Mike Matheny said Garcia, who had Tommy John surgery in 2008, said the elbow “felt different.”