Lowe and Braves lose again to Cardinals

By David O'Brien

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ST. LOUIS – Busch Stadium has been a house of horrors for Derek Lowe, and lately for the Braves in total.

Lowe gave up two runs in the first inning and the Cardinals led the whole way in a 4-3 win Saturday night at Busch, where the Braves are 0-6 in the past two seasons.

The Braves have lost seven of their past 10 games and had their wild-card lead reduced to 5 1/2 games over the Cardinals, who’ve won 11 of 15.

"We’re up 5 1/2 games with two weeks left," Braves catcher Brian McCann said. "We know what’s ahead of us. We know we need to start winning some games. We’re fine. We’ve just got to keep playing.”

Freddie Freeman had a two-run homer in the fourth inning and McCann added an RBI single in the fifth, but the 4-0 deficit that Lowe put the Braves in through three innings proved too much to overcome.

Lowe (9-14) was charged with four runs and nine hits in six innings as his record against the Cardinals fell to a career-worst 1-8 with a 6.79 ERA in 10 starts, including 0-5 with an 8.00 ERA in five starts at Busch Stadium.

"It obviously wasn’t the start I was looking to achieve," Lowe said. "But for some unknown reason, this team gives me fits. I mean, you look at the numbers against this team. It’s awful."

With 16 games left in the season, the Braves’ magic number to win the National League wild card is stuck on 12. Any combination of Braves wins and Cardinals losses totaling 12 would clinch the second consecutive wild-card berth for the Braves.

That once seemingly insurmountable lead is looking a bit less so. The Braves fell to 2-5 on an eight-game trip that started in Philadelphia, where the Braves were swept in a three-game series for the first time all season.

Manager Fredi Gonzalez was asked if there was any cause for panic.

“No, no, no," he said. "Tomorrow we try to save the series; you don’t want to get swept in two series back-to-back. We’ve got Huddy [Tim Hudson] going for us tomorrow. Hopefully our bats get going and score some big numbers.”

The Braves need to win Sunday afternoon’s series finale against the Cardinals to avoid being swept for the second time in seven days. Their only wins on the trip came in a doubleheader sweep of the Mets at New York on Thursday in makeup games from Hurricane Irene.

“This isn’t the road trip we had envisioned leaving Atlanta," Lowe said, "but we have a chance tomorrow to salvage a game – it’s a big momentum game, for us to kind of stop their momentum.”

Lowe, 38, gave up two runs and four hits in the first inning, then two more runs in the third on a pair of doubles by Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman and a two-out single by Yadier Molina that pushed the Cardinals’ lead to 4-0. Holliday is 20-for-41 in his career against Lowe.

Lowe was solid the rest of the way, but the hole he’d put the Braves in was too deep. They’ve averaged only three runs per game while losing nine of their past 14.

“I just look back and made some boneheaded pitches to Holliday and Berkman," Lowe said. "Pitches that I didn’t want to throw going into the game, and I didn’t have the  conversation with Mac [McCann], so it’s clearly my fault. It wasn’t like we had discussed it and we still did it."

Lowe is 3-7 with a 5.40 ERA in his past 10 starts, with three quality starts in that stretch.

"After that first inning, he bore down big-time," McCann said. “D-Lowe’s fine, man. He gives  you a chance to win every single time out. There’s not many guys I want on the mound going into September and going into the playoffs than Derek."

Dan Uggla led off the Braves’ fourth with a single, and one out later Freeman hit a 412-foot homer to center field off left-hander Jaime Garcia (12-7). It was the 19th homer for the Braves rookie, who had gone 53 at-bats since his last.

Michael Bourn, who has six hits in two games, used speed to manufacture a run in the fifth. He singled with one out, stole second base – his majors-leading 52nd steal -- and scored on McCann’s  single to cut the lead to 4-3.

But the Braves, as they’ve done a lot lately, wasted other scoring opportunities. They started the game with consecutive singles by Bourn and Jack Wilson and failed to score. McCann hit into a fielder’s choice, Uggla struck out and Matt Diaz grounded out to end the inning.

After Freeman’s leadoff single in the sixth, Prado grounded into a double play.

The Braves had the potential tying run at third base when the game ended. Jason Heyward walked, and with two outs stole second and went to third on a throwing error on the play. He he was left there when Bourn flied out to right after fouling off four pitches.