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Cardinals rally in fifth, hold on to top Braves

Aug 26, 2007 - 4:02 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- So Taguchi capped a five-run rally in the fifth inning and four relievers combined to work five solid frames as the St. Louis Cardinals edged the Atlanta Braves, 5-4, on Saturday.

Tim Hudson, who entered the game with a nine-game winning streak, was cruising to his 16th win of the season as the Braves staked him to a 3-0 lead. Hudson helped his own cause with a pair of RBI singles.

But the righthander, who had allowed just three hits over the first four innings, fell apart in the fifth.

Aaron Miles led off the frame with a bunt single, the first of five consecutive base hits by the Cardinals. Rick Ankiel, Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds capped the run with RBI singles.

"Huddy had the worst luck I've ever seen of any pitcher in one inning," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said. "That bunt was an excellent bunt, then two broken bats, then the high hopper up the middle. He was on top of his game, it was just unreal that that could happen."

After Chris Duncan flied out, Scott Rolen doubled over the head of right fielder Jeff Francoeur, plating Pujols and giving St. Louis a 4-3 advantage. Following an intentional walk to Yadier Molina that loaded the bases, Taguchi - who was hitting for pitcher Russ Springer - lofted a sacrifice fly to right field to conclude the uprising.

"It was an inning that was frustrating, but it happens," Hudson said. "The breaks go the other way sometimes. It's the type of inning that drives you crazy, but they happen every now and then. You just have to do a better job of bearing down and limiting the damage."

"We have a lot of good hitters in the lineup," Miles said. "We all did the damage in the right inning. We could have spread those hits out between a bunch of innings and not had anything, but they all came in the big inning, and that's the story of the game."

The rally made a winner of Springer (7-1), who tossed a scoreless top of the fifth. Springer came on in relief of starter Joel Pineiro, who yielded three runs, seven hits and two walks while striking out five.

Randy Flores surrendered a run in the sixth, but Ryan Franklin pitched two perfect innings and closer Jason Isringhausen worked the ninth, striking out Andruw Jones with runners on second and third to seal the win and notch his 26th save.

"Our bullpen, they get the one run the whole way from there to the end," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "How about Izzy? He has to go up against the middle of that lineup and get three outs. It was a really tough game. It had a lot of great things happen for us to win it."

Hudson (15-6) lasted just five innings, allowing five runs, nine hits and three walks without a strikeout. The Braves had won each of Hudson's previous 11 outings and were 20-7 in games he started this season.

"He wouldn't have lost tonight if he had any type of luck," Cox said.

The loss also was Hudson's first when staked to a three-run lead since August 2000, snapping a streak of 76 consecutive wins in that instance.

"A three-run lead is a lot for any pitcher," said Hudson, who fell to 95-2 lifetime when ahead by three or more runs. "Any front-line starter in baseball, if you give them three runs, you should feel like you should win the ballgame. I felt like we should have won tonight, for sure."

"I don't see that happening too often," Edmonds said of rallying against Hudson. "We are fortunate to walk away with the win, given his past."

With the loss, Atlanta (67-63) fell seven games behind first-place New York (73-55) in the National League East Division. The Mets posted a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers earlier in the day.

The Cardinals (62-64), who won for the 11th time in 16 games, climbed within 3 1/2 games of Chicago (66-61) in the NL Central. The Cubs are taking on the Diamondbacks in Arizona.

"We have always been confident," Edmonds said. "We have a good group of guys that can play, we just haven't been playing well. It always comes down to the end of the year, you see what happens. We'll see in 35 more days."