The game turned in a single swing. St. Louis scored four runs in the fourth inning at Truist Park on Tuesday, and that burst proved to be all the Cardinals needed in a 5-3 victory over Atlanta.
Matthew Liberatore was the story on the mound. The left-hander allowed just 1 run on 1 hit over 5.0 innings, walking 4 and striking out 9 on 98 pitches. He picked up his fourth win of the season against five losses, carrying a 5.33 ERA. Riley O'Brien worked the ninth for his 21st save of the year.
Atlanta drew first blood in the third when Mateo scored on Ozzie Albies's sacrifice fly to left. The Cardinals answered in the fourth. Nelson Velazquez tied it with a solo home run to center, a 444-foot shot, and then Nathan Church put St. Louis in front for good with a three-run homer to right — 391 feet — scoring Winn and Nootbaar. Church finished 1-for-4 with 3 RBI. Blaze Jordan added an insurance run in the sixth, scoring Winn on a sacrifice fly to right. Atlanta chipped away with single runs in the seventh — Mateo scored on an Albies single to center — and in the eighth, when Dubón scored on a wild pitch by Fernandez, but the Cardinals held the margin throughout.
Martin Perez absorbed the loss, falling to 6-5. He allowed 4 runs on 5 hits over 5.0 innings, walking 3 and striking out 1 on 85 pitches. His ERA stands at 3.27.
Ozzie Albies drove in both of Atlanta's non-wild-pitch runs and is one stolen base away from 100 for his career. The Braves dropped to 49-33, their second straight loss, while St. Louis improved to 43-38.