Braves' skid reaches seven games, longest since 2006

By David O'Brien

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ST. LOUIS – After Cardinals manager Tony La Russa did them a favor by pinch-hitting for Chris Carpenter in the sixth inning Tuesday, the skidding Braves took advantage in the seventh.

They just didn't take full advantage.

They scored two runs in the seventh, not enough to overcome the deficit in a 5-4 loss against St. Louis that saddled the Braves with their seventh consecutive defeat, their longest losing streak in nearly four years.

"I think everyone's probably beyond frustrated," said Braves starter Derek Lowe, who was cruising with a 2-1 lead before it fell apart in a four-run sixth inning. "Seven games in a row…."

Braves blew a multi-run lead and lost by one run for the second night in a row, falling to 0-5 on a seven-game trip and failing to hit a home run for the ninth time in 10 games, including every game in the losing streak.

"We played two solid games the last two nights," third baseman Chipper Jones said. "Swung the bats fairly well, played good defense, pitched well. Just a pitch or a play or an at-bat here and there. Just coming up short, every night."

Manager Bobby Cox said, "We scored four and left 10 [on base]. We're getting called out on strikes in situations where we can't get called out. Those are hard to swallow."

His Braves are alone in last place in the National League East,  the only team with a losing record (8-12) in an otherwise bunched-together division.

"For me the whole season, the one inning continues to just kill you," said Lowe (3-2), who had one ugly inning in several starts during spring training, a trend that's continued through four weeks of the regular season.

"Doesn’t matter what inning it is, instead of holding them to one it's always three and four, and that was the difference tonight."

The right-hander was charged with five runs and five hits in 5-2/3 innings and fell to 1-7 with a 6.85 ERA in eight starts against the Cardinals, his worst results against any team.

He's 0-4 with an 8.57 ERA in four starts at new Busch Stadium, his worst at any ballpark. He's allowed 36 hits and five homers in 21 innings at Busch, including Ryan Ludwick's fourth-inning homer Tuesday.

Lowe helped himself with a two-out RBI single in the second inning for a 2-0 lead, two batters after Melky Cabrera's drove in a run with a single. That's the last runs they would score against Carpenter (3-0).

Ludwick had a run-scoring double in the sixth, making him 8-for-13 with three homers and eight RBIs in his career against Lowe.

After the one-out double, Lowe intentionally walked Albert Pujols to set up a potential double-play. He induced a grounder by Matt Holliday that Jones fielded near third base. He took a few steps, touched third base and threw to first, where Holliday was safe on a close play.

"We just missed the double play," Cox said. "That would have got us out of the inning, but we couldn't get it."

The Braves led 2-1 until the Cardinals batted around in the sixth, when they got four hits and two walks, all against Lowe except David Freese's RBI single against reliever Peter Moylan.

Lowe's unraveling came without warning, after he'd retired the side in order in four of the first five innings. The biggest blow in the sixth was Yadier Molina's two-run single that chased Lowe from the game.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa pinch-hit for Carpenter with two out in the sixth, trying to add more runs and put the Braves away. Moylan got pinch-hitter Jon Jay on a groundout to end the inning.

After getting only two runs and three hits in six innings against Carpenter, the Braves sent eight batters to the plate against four different relievers in the seventh. La Russa did what he loves to do, making pitching changes to match left-handers with lefty hitters and righties with righties.

The Braves scored twice in the inning on three hits, a walk and a throwing error by pitcher Blake Hawksworth on Martin Prado's dribbler in front of the mound. Chipper Jones followed with an infield hit that made it 5-4.

Glaus drew a walk to load the bases with two out for Jason Heyward, who's been the Braves' best hitter with runners in scoring position. The prized rookie has been slumped lately, however, and took a called third strike from sidearmer lefty Trever Miller to end the inning with the Braves still trailing 5-4.

"He's just … he's taking way too many pitches," Cox said. "First pitch to him was a nothing little breaking ball [called strike]. Strike 3's a fastball. You've got to be ready to hit every pitch."

Since hitting .429 (9-for-29) with two homers and seven RBIs in a six-game stretch through April 16, Heyward is 3-for-29 (.103) with four RBIs and 12 strikeouts in his past 10 games.

"We're going to talk to him," Cox said. "He's taking way too many pitches for strikes. [As a result] he's getting one pitch to swing at right now."