Minor pitches Braves past Cardinals
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Mike Minor threw seven innings of one-run ball and Andrelton Simmons hit a solo home run to help the Atlanta Braves salvage their series against the St. Louis Cardinals by taking the finale of the four-game set, 5-2, Sunday at Busch Stadium.
Minor (13-5) scattered six hits and a walk and threw 65 of his 97 pitches for strikes in another efficient start for the Braves, who had lost five of seven games coming in but still hold a comfortable lead atop the NL East.
Jordan Schafer filled the box score with a double, a triple, a run scored and an RBI, and Elliot Johnson went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the victory.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We didn't want to get swept," Schafer said. "It was a big win for us."
Allen Craig recorded three hits and drove in a run for the Cardinals, whose starter, Lance Lynn (13-8), was touched for four runs on nine hits over seven innings.
Schafer legged out a triple to open the game and scored on Johnson's base hit to right field past a diving Matt Carpenter.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Braves tacked on two in the second on opposite-field hits from Paul Janish and Schafer, the latter hitting a ball down the left-field line that bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double.
Lynn settled down from there, but served up a solo home run to Simmons in the seventh after Matt Holliday's RBI groundout put the Cardinals on the board the previous half-inning.
Gerald Laird's sacrifice fly in the eighth gave the Braves a 5-1 lead, and the Cardinals got their first and only hit with a runner in scoring position in the bottom half when Holliday doubled and scored on Craig's two-out single to center.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Craig Kimbrel entered from the bullpen and stranded Craig on first, then set down the side in order in the ninth to post his 41st save.
"It was still a good series for us," Craig said.
Game Notes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Minor is 4-0 over his last six starts ... Lynn fell to 8-3 at home this year ... Kimbrel extended his club record with his 31st straight save conversion ... Atlanta won the season series, 4-3.