Coverage of tonight's Cards and Braves game can be heard on Newstalk 97.3 WTIM beginning at 5:35pm.

Atlanta,  GA (SportsNetwork.com)  - Matt  Carpenter hit  a two-run  double and 
Shelby  Miller pitched  five-plus innings to help the St. Louis Cardinals hang 
on for a 4-3 win over the Atlanta Braves to open a three-game set. 

Miller  (4-2)  was touched for two  runs on six hits  with a pair of walks and 
five  strikeouts for the Cardinals, who have won their past two. Matt Holliday 
and Peter Bourjos each drove in a run. 

"Any  time you win a  couple of games in a row, you feel like you can start to 
get  on a  roll," said Carpenter. "We  certainly hope that's the case here. We 
get a little momentum and we start playing like we know we're capable of." 

Aaron Harang (3-3) gave up four runs -- two earned -- on nine hits with a walk 
and  six  strikeouts over six  innings for the  Braves, who have dropped their 
past seven games. Ramiro Pena hit a solo home run in the loss. 

"That's  baseball.  We're not really playing  bad, just that's the way it goes 
sometimes,"  said  Atlanta center fielder  B.J. Upton. "We're hitting the ball 
hard  and some of  them are falling, some of them are not. The ones we need to 
fall  aren't falling right now. We just got to keep plugging away and keep the 
same approach. I thought we fought well tonight." 

The  game  stayed scoreless  until the  fifth when the Cardinals went on top. 
Bourjos  led  off the  frame with  a single  and moved  to second as Andrelton 
Simmons  misplayed  a Mark  Ellis grounder.  A sac bunt  from Miller moved the 
runners  up and  Carpenter  stroked a  double to  right-center  to score  both 
runners. Holliday added an RBI single later in the frame for a 3-0 lead. 

In  the sixth, Allen Craig started the frame with an infield single and Jhonny 
Peralta  followed with  a base hit. Bourjos  then punched a hit to right for a 
4-0 lead. 

The Cardinals loaded  the bases  later  in the  frame and  appeared to  score 
another  run as Yadier Molina reached base when his grounder back to the mound 
deflected  off Harang.  Chris Johnson grabbed the ball and reached out his leg 
to  tag third, but the runner was called safe and a man crossed the plate. The 
play was challenged, though, and reversed for the third out of the inning. 

Atlanta  cut its deficit  in half in the bottom of the sixth. Justin Upton led 
off  with a walk  and Freddie Freeman followed with a single. Evan Gattis then 
singled  to push one  run across, and B.J. Upton's sac fly off Pat Neshek made 
it a 4-2 game. 

Pena's  solo  home run in the  seventh made it  a one-run game, but the Braves 
stranded a man on second in the inning. 

After Carlos Martinez pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning, Trevor Rosenthal got into 
some trouble in the ninth. 

Simmons  singled to start  and moved to second on a sac bunt. After Pena flied 
out,  Jason Heyward walked  to put the go-ahead run on base, but Rosenthal got 
Justin Upton to look at strike three for his ninth save of the season. 

                                   Game Notes 

The  last time the  Braves lost seven straight games was May 21-28, 2012, when 
they  dropped eight in  a row ... The Braves are 7-14 when the opponent scores 
first  this season  ...  Atlanta was  just 1-for-12  with  runners in  scoring 
position  and left  eight men on base  ... Atlanta took four of seven from St. 
Louis last season.