Molina's bat not enough in Cardinals' 5-4 loss to Braves

ATLANTA -- Yadier Molina homered and went 4 for 4.

He liked the previous game, when he had only one hit, a whole lot better.

Despite Molina's big day, the Atlanta Braves snapped an eight-game losing streak Tuesday night after getting homers from Dan Uggla and Michael Bourn in a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

"I feel good," said Molina, who is hitting .560 (14 for 25) with three homers and 11 RBIs during a six-game hitting streak. "At the same time, I'd trade my 1 for 5 from last night and the win and not take the 4 for 4 and the loss."

Jake Westbrook (4-4) struggled to keep his sinker down and lasted only five innings.

Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina follows through on an RBI single during the seventh inning Tuesday in Atlanta. (JOHN BAZEMORE ~ Associated Press)

"That's a couple of games in a row I've put us in a hole," he said. "I've got to do a better job. With the sinker that I have, that should keep the ball in the yard."

The Braves snapped their longest losing streak since a nine-game skid in April 2010.

"This is not an indication of what's going to happen the next day or the next week or the next month," Uggla said. "But it definitely snaps the feeling of, 'Aww, man, are we ever going to win again?'"

Bourn led off the bottom of the first with his fifth homer of the season, which tied his career high. Uggla made it 4-0 in the third with a three-run shot into the seats in left-center. The Cardinals closed within a run in the seventh, but Eric O'Flaherty and Craig Kimbrel both worked one perfect inning with two strikeouts to preserve the win.

Kimbrel earned his 14th save in 15 chances and ended the game by fanning Matt Holliday on a fastball that clocked 98 mph. The right-hander pumped his fist and slapped hands with his teammates.

"Everyone knows how bad we've been scuffling," Uggla said. "When you get that first one, it eases the tension, eases the pressure. We know what it feels like to win again. It was obviously a big night for us."

Randall Delgado (3-5) allowed three runs and worked into the sixth. The Cardinals got closer in the seventh on Molina's third RBI of the night, a run-scoring single.

The Braves shook up things before the game. They sent reliever Kris Medlen to the minors so he could stretch out his arm and return to the big leagues as a starter. He was replaced on the roster by speedy outfielder Jose Constanza, who started in left and batted ninth -- ahead of Delgado -- as manager Fredi Gonzalez looked for ways to shake the team out of its slump.

"Why not?" Gonzalez said.

The unusual lineup paid off in the fifth when Constanza led off with a single, moved to second on Westbrook's errant throw to first, raced to third on Bourn's deep flyout and sped home on Westbrook's wild pitch. That gave the Braves a 5-2 lead, which turned out to be just enough to hold off the Cardinals.

Molina had his third four-hit game of the season. He began the comeback with a run-scoring single in the fourth when St. Louis scored twice to halve Atlanta's lead to 4-2. Molina followed in the sixth with his eighth homer, a one-out shot into the left-field seats. He came through again with an RBI single to right off Jonny Venters to make it a one-run game in the seventh.

But Venters, whose struggles apparently have cost him his role as the eighth-inning setup man to Kimbrel, escaped the jam by striking out Matt Adams with runners at first and third.

"Jonny made some strides," Gonzalez said. "He got them hitting ground balls. Now we've got to work on getting them to hit ground balls at somebody."

Westbrook gave up only five hits, but the long ball sent him to his fourth straight start without a win.

"Bourn's [home run] ball, I was just trying to come in and it leaked back over," Westbrook said. "That's a solo homer. Those happen. But the three-run homer, it wasn't like it was a super-mistake pitch, but it was just too good of a pitch and it hurt us."

Westbrook walked three and struck out six. Only four of the five runs he allowed were earned.