ST. LOUIS _ Friday, in the latest of seven straight Cardinals wins, the team never trailed. There was no stray cat on the field, and for the first time in three games, there was no go-ahead grand slam.
Still, there were rallies to be found in the Cardinals' 8-5 win over the Braves.
Starting pitcher Adam Wainwright wasn't exactly crisp in his second start since returning from the disabled list, but he rallied his way out of a few different jams, including bases-loaded with no outs in the third, with the help of some key double plays.
The Cardinals' offense then mounted a two-out rally in the eighth inning to add cushion to a one-run lead.
Randal Grichuk and Jose Martinez struck out to begin the inning, but Matt Carpenter and Tommy Pham drew back-to-back walks. Paul DeJong drove both in with a single that barely landed on the fair side of the first base line, giving the Cardinals at least eight runs for the sixth straight game.
Half of those eight runs came in the second inning. Jedd Gyorko started the inning by drawing a walk from Braves' starter Mike Foltynewicz, who walked four batters in his shortest outing since April 11. Kolten Wong then hit a double off the wall in center field to score Gyorko.
Wong scored on a Grichuk single that bounced through the gap into right field. Wainwright moved Grichuk to second with a successful sacrifice bunt, and Grichuk came home on a double off the bat of Carpenter. After Pham drew a walk, DeJong hit a double of his own, scoring Carpenter.
The following inning, the Cardinals padded their lead. After Gyorko flew out to begin the inning, Wong got on base when he was hit by a Foltynewicz pitch. Wong scored when Grichuk hit his first triple of the season over the head of former Cardinal Matt Adams and into the left field corner.
Grichuk scored when Wainwright recorded his 11th RBI of the season on a bloop single that landed in shallow center. The Braves removed Foltynewicz in favor of reliever Luke Jackson after Pham hit a double two batters later, and that ended the Cardinals' scoring _ for several innings.
Meanwhile, Wainwright allowed two base runners in both the first and second innings but didn't allow a run in either, thanks in large part to a double play he induced in each inning.
In the third, Wainwright found himself in a tougher spot. He gave up a hit to Foltynewicz, just his second in 33 at bats this season, and then allowed a single to Ender Inciarte. He walked the next batter, Brandon Phillips, to load the bases with no outs.
That brought Freddie Freeman, with his .315 batting average and 21 home runs on the season, to the plate. Wainwright got Freeman to ground to Carpenter at first base. Carpenter threw to DeJong at second, and DeJong tossed the ball back to Wainwright to complete the play at first.
Double play.
One run scored on the play, but Wainwright managed to escape the inning with no further damage by getting Nick Markakis to fly out to end the inning.
After getting out of the bases-loaded jam, Wainwright appeared to settle in. He retired all six batters he faced in the fourth and fifth innings and, having thrown 77 pitches through five frames, he came to the plate to hit in the bottom of the fifth.
Yet when the sixth inning began it was reliever Brett Cecil, not Wainwright, on the mound.
The Braves pounced on Cecil for four runs, cutting the Cardinals' lead to one. The majority of the damage was done by second baseman Ozzie Albies, who hit his second home run of the season an estimated 386 feet into the seats in left field.
After the home run, the Cardinals turned to John Brebbia to finish the inning. He did so by getting Dansby Swanson to ground out, then he recorded the first two outs of the seventh. With Inciarte on base, Freeman came to the plate once again, this time with a chance to give the Braves the lead.
The Cardinals countered with lefty reliever Zach Duke. Entering Friday, Freeman had five hits in six career at bats against Duke.
Duke struck him out.
Duke then delivered a one-two-three eighth, and after DeJong added the two insurance runs in the bottom of the inning, Matt Bowman delivered a one-two-three ninth inning for his second save of the season.
