Matthew Liberatore bounced back to throw five strong innings and Nathan Church ended a long homerless streak to lead the visiting St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-3 win over the Atlanta Braves in the opening game of their three-game series on Tuesday.
St. Louis has won two straight after ending a four-game losing streak. Atlanta has lost three in a row and 13 of its last 17.
Liberatore (4-5) allowed one run on one hit and four walks, striking out nine, to earn his first victory since May 31. Liberatore had allowed 17 runs over 11 1/3 innings in his three previous starts.
Riley O’Brien worked around a double to Matt Olson to pitch a scoreless ninth and earn his 21st save.
Church, making his first appearance against the Braves, blasted a three-run homer into the right field stands to cap a four-run rally in the fourth inning when the Cardinals took the lead. It was Church’s sixth home run and his first since April 26.
Atlanta starter Martin Perez (6-5) pitched five innings and allowed four runs on five hits, two of them home runs, and three walks, striking out one.
The Braves opened the scoring in the third inning. Jorge Mateo singled, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Ozzie Albies.
But the lead was quickly erased when St. Louis scored four times in the fourth inning. Nelson Velazquez drilled a 444-foot solo shot to center field to lead off the frame. After singles by Masyn Winn and Lars Nootbaar, Church hit a changeup for a 391-foot homer.
The Cardinals tacked on a run in the sixth off reliever James Karinchak to take a 5-1 lead. Winn walked, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Blaze Jordan’s sacrifice fly.
The Braves got one run back in the seventh on an RBI single by Albies and added another in the eighth when Mauricio Dubon scored on a wild pitch. But the Braves left the bases loaded when Drake Baldwin grounded out to end the inning.
