Win keeps Cardinals' playoff hopes alive

ST. LOUIS -- There's fight left in the St. Louis Cardinals. The team they are chasing for the NL wild card again saw it.

Lance Berkman had a single, RBI double and walk -- reaching base seven straight times over two games -- helping the Cardinals inch closer in the wild card race with their second straight 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Saturday night.

"It's not like we're playing for a World Series championship right now, but we're on the fringes of contention," Berkman said. "You kind of feel that and it gives you a little extra concentration."

Jaime Garcia (12-7) worked six efficient innings, and Rafael Furcal had two hits and his 300th career steal for the Cardinals, who doubled four times and scored four runs in the first three innings against Derek Lowe (9-14). They've taken the first two games of the three-game series to reduce Atlanta's wild card lead to 5 1/2 games and pull St. Louis within six games of first-place Milwaukee in the NL Central.

With only 17 games to go, they need a sweep to keep the surge going.

"I don't think you can look too far down the road," Berkman said. "If we come out and lay an egg [today], then the series doesn't mean a whole lot because we really haven't gained that much ground.

"If we can somehow win the game tomorrow, then it gets really interesting."

It's no time to panic for the Braves.

"No, no, no, no," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Let's try to get back into winning ways tomorrow, starting tomorrow, and rattle off seven, eight, nine in a row."

Freddie Freeman hit his 19th home run for the Braves, who are 4-7 in September after going 17-9 in August. Michael Bourn singled twice for a two-day total of six hits. He had a steal but flied out with the tying run on third for the final out.

"I was going to battle to the end," Bourn said. "He won that battle. We'll be back tomorrow."

Garcia has won his first two starts this month after going 0-2 with a 6.84 ERA in August.

He allowed three runs and eight hits with four strikeouts and no walks.