Extra painful
Braves fall to Cardinals in 14
ATLANTA — After seeing the Braves leave runners in scoring position in the first three extra innings, Tommy Pham was sure the Cardinals would take advantage when their opportunity arrived.
He was the one who came through.
Pham hit two home runs, including a two-run drive in the 14th inning, and St. Louis recovered after blowing a four-run lead to beat Atlanta 6-4 on Sunday and complete a three-game sweep.
Pham’s long home run in the 14th off Josh Collmenter (0-1) drove in rookie Magneuris Sierra, who reached on second baseman Jace Peterson’s fielding error.
“I was pumped,” Pham said. “I was telling everybody in the dugout, ‘Let’s go!’ I was joking around: ‘We don’t get paid for overtime.’ When Peterson made that error, it was our chance, and coincidentally I was the guy up with the opportunity. To come through and get it over with was huge.”
Recalled from Class AAA Memphis on Friday, Pham had a career-high four hits and drove in three runs. He also homered Friday.
Freddie Freeman’s homer — his 11th this season — off Brett Cecil in the eighth tied the game, completing Atlanta’s comeback from a 4-0 deficit.
Matt Carpenter had a first-inning home run for St. Louis. He went deep in all three games during the series, giving him seven homers this season.
Sam Tuivailala (1-0), the Cardinals’ seventh pitcher, allowed one hit in two scoreless innings. Kevin Siegrist worked the 14th
for his first save.
The Braves used nine pitchers and the Cardinals eight in a game that lasted 4 hours, 6 minutes.
Atlanta loaded the bases against closer Seung Hwan Oh in the 11th but couldn’t score. With two outs, Carpenter fielded Ender Inciarte’s grounder
behind first base before flipping the ball to Oh. A review confirmed the on-field call that Oh barely beat Inciarte to the bag.
“We could have won that game with that play,” Inciarte said. “It’s frustrating.”
The Cardinals escaped more trouble in the 12th when Tuivailala struck
out Kurt Suzuki to end the inning with runners on second and third.
Cardinals right-hander Jonathan Broxton fanned Matt Kemp with runners on first and third to end the 10th.
“We had the right guys up there but just couldn’t get the big hit,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It happens sometimes.”
Michael Wacha allowed two runs on five hits and two walks in six innings for St. Louis.
Atlanta knuckleballer R.A. Dickey gave up four runs and eight hits in six innings. The Braves began the game ranked last in the majors with their 4.91 ERA.
Braves right fielder Nick Markakis made diving catches of drives hit by Yadier Molina in the fifth and Carpenter in the eighth. A disbelieving Carpenter watched the replay of the grab by Markakis in the right-center gap on the video board before returning to the dugout.
Attendance was 40,200 for the second sellout of the series and fifth of the first season at SunTrust Park.
“I was pumped. I was telling everybody in the dugout, ‘Let’s go!’ I was joking around: ‘We don’t get paid for overtime.” – TOMMY PHAM