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Wainwright pitches Cardinals past Braves

Aug 26, 2007 - 10:33 PM By Jim Walsh PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) - Adam Wainwright and two relievers kept the St. Louis Cardinals winning and the Atlanta Braves in a slump.

Cementing his role as the team's ace, Wainwright pitched seven strong innings to lead the Cardinals to a 4-1 victory in the deciding game of the weekend series.

Wainwright (12-9) improved to 2-1 with a 1.55 ERA over his last four starts. The 6-7 righthander surrendered only six hits over his seven innings, allowing only one run and one walk with five strikeouts.

"I've told myself I'm going to try to get better every time out," said Wainwright, who threw 69 of 109 pitches for strikes. "There are a lot of factors that go into that. You can't just say it, you have to go out there and believe you are improving."

Ryan Franklin pitched a scoreless eighth and Jason Isringhausen closed out the ninth for his 13th consecutive save and 27th in 29 chances this season. It was the 200th save of Isringhausen's career.

"Look at (Isringhausen's) numbers this year, they're crazy," Wainwright said. "He's one of the best in the game without a doubt, we all know that, and we are supremely confident when goes to the mound at the end of the game."

Wainwright kept the Braves off-balance with his moving fastball and curveball. Atlanta's only run came in the sixth, when Brian McCann's two-out RBI single followed Mark Teixeira's double.

"We just couldn't capitalize when we got guys on base," said Atlanta outfielder Matt Diaz, who had two of the Braves' hits. "(Wainwright) did a good job of unbelievable damage control today. Every time we threatened he made a pitch."

St. Louis broke open a scoreless game in the bottom of the fifth inning, scoring three times off Atlanta starter Jo-Jo Reyes, including two unearned runs.

Ryan Ludwick started the inning with a line single to right. Two pitches later, Yadier Molina put the Cardinals on top with a double down the left field line.

"When you see a (pitcher) the second or third time you have a better feel," Ludwick said. "It worked out in the fifth for us today and we jumped on top first and we rolled with it."

Reyes (0-2) could have escaped without further damage but a two-out ground ball by Brendan Ryan got under the glove of Chris Woodward at third for a two-base error to score Molina.

"The ball was hit well and I think it skipped by Woody's glove just a little bit," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said. "It wasn't an easy play."

So Taguchi capped the inning, plating Ryan with a single up the middle.

Although the loss left Reyes still searching for his first major league win, the 22-year-old rookie had his strongest outing yet. The lefthander, who entered the game with a 9.62 ERA, pitched six innings, allowing four runs - two earned - with seven hits, six strikeouts and no walks.

"I think this is my best outing," Reyes said. "I can't worry about the win or loss, just worry about making sure you make every pitch count. I feel I was more aggressive, I was commanding all my pitches so I felt real good today."

Juan Encarnacion added a solo home run in the sixth for St. Louis who have won five of their last seven games and moved only 2 1/2 games behind the Chicago Cubs for the lead in the National League Central Division.

"Right down we have more pluses than problems," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "That hasn't been true for quite a bit of the year, so we're having some fun."

Atlanta lost for the eighth time in their last 11 games and fell a season-high 7 1/2 games behind first-place New York in the NL East.