Hard-charging Cardinals encounter Minor setback

~ St. Louis remains tied for first place despite a 5-2 loss to the Braves

ST. LOUIS -- Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez was so impressed with Mike Minor that he referenced two of the best pitchers in the National League.

Minor bounced back from the shortest outing of his career with seven strong innings, leading Atlanta to a 5-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

"I felt like I was pounding the zone, hitting more spots," Minor said.

Atlanta, which has the best record in the NL, salvaged the finale of the four-game set. Andrelton Simmons hit his 12th homer for the Braves, who closed out a 2-4 road trip.

Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel, right, and catcher Gerald Laird celebrate after their 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in a baseball game on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2013, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Minor (13-5) gave up one run and six hits while pitching on seven days' rest after allowing four runs in 1 2-3 innings against Washington on Aug. 17. The left-hander struck out two and walked one, playing a big role in the end of St. Louis' four-game winning streak and prompting his manager to compare him to aces Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals and Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers.

"He's developing into a big-time deal," Gonzalez said. "The Wainwrights of the world, the Kershaws of the world, they stop losing streaks and extend winning streaks.

"He's becoming one of those guys."

Minor also beat the Cardinals 4-1 on July 26, starting the Braves on a 14-game winning streak.

"He was sharp today, he didn't give us a lot of mistakes to handle," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said. "And he got out of any kind of jams that he got himself into."

Braves starting pitcher Mike Minor throws to a Cardinals batter during the sixth inning Sunday in St. Louis. Minor allowed one run over seven innings in Atlanta’s 5-2 victory.Jeff RobersonAssociated Press

Minor, who also legged out an infield hit in the seventh, recorded his team-high 19th quality start. He leads the team with a career-high 13 wins.

Simmons hit a solo drive in the seventh for his 12th homer, giving the Braves a 4-1 lead.

Craig Kimbrel came on with two out in the eighth and picked up his 41st save in 44 opportunities. It was his first four-out save of the season, a trend that may continue in October.

"We may have to do that come postseason," Gonzalez said. "It was perfect timing. He hasn't pitched in three days, with a day off tomorrow, it made a lot of sense to push him and he came through."

Atlanta jumped on Lance Lynn (13-8), scoring one in the first and two in the second. Lynn gave up four runs and nine hits over seven innings while dropping to 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA in his last four starts.

St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina catches a bunt-attempt by Atlanta Braves' Mike Minor in the second inning of a baseball game on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2013, at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. (AP Photo/St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Chris Lee) EDWARDSVILLE INTELLIGENCER OUT; THE ALTON TELEGRAPH OUT

The Braves needed just six pitches to jump in front. Jordan Schafer led off the game with a triple and came in on a run-scoring single by Elliot Johnson, his first RBI as a member of the Braves.

Gerald Laird and Joey Terdoslavich each singled to start the second. Paul Janish followed with an RBI single. Schafer then pushed the lead to 3-0 with a double.

Lynn, who is winless in his last four starts and 2-4 since the All-Star break, surrendered four runs on nine hits over seven innings.

"They got after me pretty good early in the game, but I was able to turn it around and go deep in the game," Lynn said. "I think I threw the ball well for the most part."

Lynn had been burned by one bad inning in each of his previous three starts. He gave up five runs in the fourth against Milwaukee, four in the second against Pittsburgh and three in the seventh against the Cubs.

He avoided the blow-up frame Sunday.

"Hopefully for me, this was a building [block] going down the stretch," he said. "I've got some starts coming up where I've got to be really good. And I plan on being really good."

Lynn faced just three batters in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings against the Braves.

"He needed to slow down a bit," Matheny said. "But once he established that, they seemed to have different at-bats against him."

St. Louis infielder Matt Carpenter had two hits, pushing his NL-best total to 157. He doubled in the sixth and scored on a groundout by Matt Holliday, who has an RBI in his last five games.

Allen Craig had three of the Cardinals' eight hits for his 44th multihit game of the season.

"We wanted the sweep, but it's still a really good series to win three games out of four against a tough team," Craig said.

The Braves won for the first time since outfielder Jason Heyward suffered a broken jaw on Wednesday in New York. Heyward, who was hit by a pitch from Jonathon Niese, will be out four to six weeks.