Braves win 7-2 over Cardinals

ST. LOUIS -- Brandon Beachy gave his mom an early Mother's Day present.

With both his parents in the stands, the Kokomo, Ind., native pitched six innings of one-run ball and helped himself with an RBI single as the Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-2 Saturday night.

Beachy (4-1) allowed only two singles and lowered his ERA to 1.60, fifth best in the NL. He struck out six and walked four.

"It's always good to pitch well in front of your family and friends," Beachy said. "Having them here gets you going a little more."

Michael Bourn went 3 for 6 with two RBIs and two runs scored for Atlanta, and the homer was his first since Aug. 19, 2011, against Arizona.

"Sometimes you get the ball in the right spot and it goes," Bourn said. "I got that in the right spot."

Dan Uggla was on base four times with two hits and two walks for the Braves. He scored twice and drove in a run. Brian McCann also contributed two hits, two RBIs and a run scored for the Braves, who are 21-9 in their last 30 games.

All that offense made Beachy's job much easier.

"The way we're hitting the ball, if I can throw some zeroes up there we got a good chance to be out front and in control," Beachy said.

Rafael Furcal had two hits for the Cardinals, including an RBI single, to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.

Atlanta did most of its damage against Cardinals starter Adam Wainright (2-4). Wainright had won all six career starts he'd made against his former team, but he lasted just 4 1-3 innings, allowing five runs on nine hits, with five walks and five strikeouts.

"He was around the zone," said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny. "He didn't have feel for it as much today. It was just one of those days he was trying to fight."

Wainright, who made 108 pitches overall, threw 30 before recording an out. That came when he struck out the game's sixth hitter, Chipper Jones, on his 31st pitch.

Prior to getting Jones, Wainright allowed singles to Bourn and Martin Prado and a walk to Freddie Freeman to load the bases. Walks to Uggla and McCann forced in runs, but Wainright was able to escape the inning without any further damage.

After McCann doubled home a run in the third, Atlanta put Wainright out of his misery in the fifth. The Braves loaded the bases with no out on singles by Uggla and McCann and a walk to Jones. Wainright struck out Jason Heyward, but Tyler Pastornicky and Beachy followed with run-scoring singles to make it 5-0 and chase the right-hander.

Allen Craig broke Beachy's shutout with a sacrifice fly in the sixth, but Bourn gave the Braves their five-run lead back with a leadoff homer off Cards reliever J.C. Romero in the eighth.

"When they scored and brought it back down to a four-run lead, we went right back out there and got a run, which is nice to see," said Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez. "It's nice to win these first two games of the series and to be in a position to go out there tomorrow and try to win three in a row."

Noteworthy

* Cardinals 2B Tyler Greene is in a 0-for-15 tailspin after going hitless in three at-bats.

* After not winning in St. Louis since Sept. 13, 2009 (seven games), the Braves have won two in a row at Busch Stadium and look for the sweep behind Tommy Hanson (3-3) today.

* The Cardinals' Carlos Beltran had his six-game hitting streak snapped. Beltran was 11 for 26 (.420) with five home runs in that stretch. ... Bourn is 6 for 12 in the series.