ATLANTA -- When Andrelton Simmons botched a grounder, the St. Fake Yeezy 700 For Sale . Louis Cardinals seized their opportunity. For the Atlanta Braves, it was another night of missed chances. Matt Carpenters two-run double that helped carry St. Louis past the slumping Braves, who shook up their lineup but still lost their seventh in a row, 4-3 on Monday. The Cardinals scored three runs in the fifth inning, taking advantage of shaky defence by Atlantas Gold Glove shortstop. In fact, Simmons had a couple of plays that couldve been scored errors but were initially ruled hits. The second one was changed to an E-6 and turned out to be especially costly, leading to a pair of unearned runs. St. Louis built a 4-0 lead and barely held on to win the series opener. "It was big," Carpenter said. "Especially when we got out to a big lead, to be able to hold them off, that was big for us." Desperate for more offence, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez batted pitcher Aaron Harang eighth and put second baseman Ramiro Pena in the ninth spot. Pena had two hits, including a seventh-inning homer that brought the Braves within a run, but they couldnt overcome a 4-0 deficit. Juston Upton took a called third strike from Trevor Rosenthal to end the game with the potential tying run at second base -- Uptons fourth strikeout of the night and extending Atlantas woes with runners in scoring position. The Braves were 1 for 12 in those situations and are 6 of 51 during their losing streak, though Freddie Freeman saw some encouraging signs. "We hit some balls hard with runners on," he said. "We were in the game the whole game. We couldnt say that the past week." The last time the Braves had such a lengthy skid was May 21-28, 2012, when they dropped eight in a row. Their longest losing streak last season was four straight. Shelby Miller (4-2) got a shaky win, giving up six hits and two runs in five-plus innings. Trevor Rosenthal pitched out of trouble for his ninth save, giving up a leadoff single to Simmons. Jordan Schafer bunted the runner to second, but Pena flied out to right before Upton whiffed. Harang (3-3) took the loss, though he pitched much better than his previous start, when he was pounded for nine runs by the Marlins. This time, he gave up four runs in six innings but only two were earned. The game was scoreless until the fifth, when Peter Bourjos led off with a single before Mark Ellis grounded one off Simmons glove. The shortstop, looking to make a force at second, appeared to take his eyes off the ball as it skipped past him. After Miller bunted the runners to second and third, Carpenter doubled to right-centre to bring them both in. Matt Holiday followed with a hard liner past third baseman Chris Johnson to make it 3-0. "Those things happen," Harang said of Simmons error. "I told him not to be too hard on himself. Hes probably going to save my butt plenty of times this year." St. Louis added another run in the fifth on Bourjos RBI single, but Gonzalez challenged a call at third base that had seemingly given the Cardinals a 5-0 lead. Yadier Molinas bases-loaded grounder ricocheted off Harangs leg, right to Johnson at third. He caught it and blindly stepped back in search of the bag and managed to barely nick it, as the replay showed. The called was quickly overturned after a review of only 37 seconds. The Braves knocked out Miller in the bottom half of the sixth, the first three hitters reaching safely. The Cardinals went to the bullpen after Evan Gattis RBI single, and B.J. Upton followed with a sacrifice fly off Pat Neshek. Neshek escaped the jam by striking out Simmons. NOTES: The Cardinals sent pitcher RHP Joe Kelly back to St. Louis to continue his rehab from a strained left hamstring. "Joe just wasnt to the point where they thought they could push him, so keeping him around the rest of this road trip didnt make any sense," general manager John Mozeliak said. "I dont know Id call it a setback as much as he just wasnt progressing as quickly as we wanted." ... Atlanta RHP Gavin Floyd will make his season debut when he starts Tuesday against LHP Tyler Lyons (0-2) of the Cardinals. Floyd is coming back from Tommy John surgery and will start in place of Ervin Santana, who has a bruised right thumb. Cheap Air Jordan 1 China . The outdoor event will be played on Dec. 31 between alumni of the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers at Citizens Bank Park, the home of the Philadelphia Phillies. Vans Shoes Clearance . Wawrinka, who is seeded fourth, is in the top half of the draw with Serbian Novak Djokovic. The Swiss star outlasted Djokovic in a five-set quarterfinal thriller last year and stunned Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the final to capture his first-ever Grand Slam title.PHOENIX - The Phoenix Suns have three very good point guards.And all of them were on the floor the final four minutes when the Phoenix Suns rallied to beat the San Antonio Spurs Friday night.The newcomer of the trio, Isaiah Thomas, led the way.Thomas scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half — 10 in the fourth quarter — rallying Phoenix with a relentless series of driving layups, and the Suns won 94-89.They came back to win it with Thomas, Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic on the floor together, harassing the Spurs on defence.I think it puts a lot of pressure on teams with who theyre going to guard, Suns coach Jeff Hornacek said. All those guys just turned it up defensively and thats what we need.The Spurs last field goal came with 5:09 to play.Phoenix never led until Thomas layup made it 88-87 with 3:34 to play. It was part of a 10-0 run that put the Suns up 92-87 on Markieff Morris dunk, on a pass from Alex Len, with 1:09 left.Manu Ginobili made two of three free throws with 59.8 seconds left to cut the lead to 92-89. Then San Antonio had a chance to tie at the finish.But, with 6.5 seconds remaining, Boris Diaw couldnt get the ball inbounds and was called for a five-second violation just as he tried to signal timeout.I was waiting for someone to come out of a screen, he said. When he came out of a screen he was not open. I thought I called it (the timeout) in time. He (the referee) whistled and said it was too late.Thomas said the Suns have so many good shooters it clears the way for drives to the basket.I mean, once I got by my defender, sometimes I just walked into a layup, he said.Tony Parker scored 19 for the Spurs, but just three in the fourth quarter. Tim Duncan added 16, none in the final quarter.Ginobilis free throws were San Antonios only points in the final 5:09.I know we are supposed to be 82 and 0, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. I aam guessing we are going to lose more games before the season is over. Cheap Air Max 97 China. The Spurs last field goal, a 3-pointer by Austin Daye, put the reigning NBA champions ahead 87-82 with 5:09 to go.Morris added 20 for the Suns. Len had 10 points and 11 rebounds, both career highs. Bledsoe, on a 3-for-15 shooting night, sealed the win with two free throws. He had 12 points and nine rebounds.The Spurs took a quick 15-point lead as Phoenix shot 5-for-23 (22 per cent) in the first quarter, missing 10 in a row before Lens tip-in with two seconds to play.But Phoenix tied it at 30-30 in the second quarter. The Spurs led 45-36 at the break.TIP-INSSpurs: Daye started for the Spurs after not playing at all in the opener. Matt Bonner started the opener but didnt play on Friday. ... Kahwi Leonard was back in the lineup after missing the opener with an eye infection. He was 0-for-5 shooting and scored six pointsSuns: After making 16 of 32 3-pointers in the rout of the Lakers in its opener, Phoenix shot 2-of-18 Friday. ... The Suns again were without forward P.J. Tucker, who is serving a three-game suspension to start the season because of his off-season DUI arrest.ROUGH NIGHTThe last time he played the Spurs, Bledsoe had 30 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. He had a rough night Friday. In the first half Friday, he shot 1-for-9 and scored five points and was 1-for-10 when, in the third quarter, he crashed in for a dunk on an offensive rebound and was fouled for a three-point play. Then he missed his final two shots.KAHWI CONTRACTAt 9 p.m., local time, the deadline passed for the Spurs to re-sign Leonard. The two sides were not talking. Now the Spurs cant re-sign him until next summer or he can opt to test the market as a restricted free agent.UP NEXTSpurs: Dont play until Thursday, when they are home against Atlanta.Suns: At Utah Sunday night. ' ' '
top of page
bottom of page