Nathan Church hit a two-run homer to ignite a seven-run rally and help the visiting St. Louis Cardinals to a come-from-behind, 11-5 win over the Atlanta Braves on Thursday in the rubber game of their three-game series.
The Cardinals sent 11 men to the plate during the seventh-inning uprising and erased a 5-3 deficit to hand the Braves their 14th loss in 19 games. St. Louis has won three of its last four.
Church tied the game with a two-run shot, his seventh of the season, against Tyler Kinley (4-3). Church had two hits in the series, both of them home runs.
The Cardinals followed with RBI singles from JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera and Jordan Walker, an RBI double by Lars Nootbaar and a run-scoring fielder’s choice from Masyn Winn.
The winning pitcher was Gordon Graceffo (6-1) for a spotless sixth.
Atlanta’s Hurston Waldrep was making his first start of the season after undergoing elbow surgery in spring training to remove loose bodies. He worked 5 1/3 innings and gave up three runs on five hits and one walk, striking out four.
It was a wild first inning as the Cardinals jumped ahead on Jordan Walker’s three-run homer, his 19th, that hit the top of the wall in left field and bounced into the seats. It ended a 14-game homerless streak for Walker, the longest of his season.
The Braves then responded with a five-run outburst in the bottom half. Mauricio Dubon delivered a bases-loaded RBI single. Dominic Smith followed with a liner that hit pitcher Dustin May’s right ankle on the follow-through and caromed into shallow right field, clearing the bases. The game was halted while trainers examined the right-hander, who stayed in the game.
Mike Yastrzemski followed with a sacrifice fly to deep center field and Jim Jarvis singled. That caused manager Oliver Marmol to lift May in favor of Justin Bruihl, who retired Drake Baldwin, the 10th batter in the inning.
Alec Burleson hit a solo homer for the Cardinals in the ninth, his 14th.
