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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Even on an off night, Tom Glavine owned the St.
Louis Cardinals.
|  | | Tom Glavine did not have his best stuff Friday, but he ran his record at St. Louis' Busch Stadium to 8-1 as the Braves won. |
"I've had good success against these guys for some reason," he
said Friday night after leading the Atlanta Braves over St. Louis
6-4 to win his seventh straight start.
Glavine improved his record against St. Louis to 13-4, including
8-1 at Busch Stadium, where he's 7-0 in 10 starts since Aug. 20,
1990.
"I don't know why," he said. "But it's certainly not the kind
of thing I go out and take for granted."
Glavine (14-5) is unbeaten since June 27 at Montreal. He allowed
three runs and six hits in six innings, but threw 112 pitches.
"You take them anyway you can," Glavine said. "That was a win
for the Braves that I get credit for, that's about all it was."
Atlanta, 15-5 since the All-Star break, had lost two straight
for the first time since July 5-6. The Braves, who got a go-ahead,
two-run homer from Andres Galarraga, have the major leagues' best
record at 67-42.
St. Louis stranded 14 runners and was 2-for-16 with runners in
scoring position.
"I know we had our chances," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa
said. "We had a bunch of good at-bats against him."
It was the first meeting of the year between the division
leaders. The Braves were 8-1 against the Cardinals last year and
were 71-43 against them in the 1990s.
St. Louis has lost six of eight and is 9-15 since July 6, the
last game Mark McGwire played before knee pain put him on the
disabled list.
Will Clark, acquired Monday from Baltimore, homered on the first
pitch he saw in his first home game at Busch Stadium, earning a
standing ovation and curtain call from a season-high sellout crowd
of 48,901. The hit made him 5-for-6 with two homers since the
trade.
When Clark was with the San Francisco Giants, he was booed at
Busch because of a fight involving Ozzie Smith in 1988.
"It was quite a reaction," Clark said. "It was very, very,
very nice. They didn't have to do that."
Clark also had one of the Cardinals' errors, botching a grounder
at first. Catcher Carlos Hernandez, acquired from San Diego, had
two errors in his home debut and Eric Davis misplayed a line-drive
single by Rafael Furcal into a two-base error in a two-run third.
The Cardinals entered the game second in the NL in fielding behind
Colorado.
Glavine escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fifth and Mike
Remlinger left the bases full in the sixth, getting Placido Polanco
on an inning-ending liner to third baseman Chipper Jones. St. Louis
stranded 14 in all.
With runners at first and second in the ninth, Scott Kamieniecki
came in for his second save, retiring pinch-hitter J.D. Drew on a
flyout and striking out Craig Paquette.
Andy Benes (10-6) gave up five runs -- four earned -- and seven
hits in six innings. He is 0-3 in four starts since beating the
Chicago White Sox on July 13 and dropped to 6-14 against Atlanta.
"I don't think he was quite himself tonight," La Russa said.
Benes wasn't disputing that.
"I was just trying to make good pitches," he said. "It wasn't
the best-played of games."
St. Louis went ahead in the second on Clark's homer and Edgar
Renteria's sacrifice fly, but Atlanta tied it in the third on
Furcal's RBI single and Andruw Jones' sacrifice fly.
Fernando Tatis had an RBI grounder in the third, hitting the
ball to Galarraga, who stepped on first and then throw to second to
double up Davis.
Galarraga's homer and Furcal's RBI single off the glove of
Polanco at second gave Atlanta a 5-3 lead in the fourth.
Renteria doubled home a run in the sixth, and Andruw Jones hit
an RBI double off Matt Morris in the eighth.
Game notes
Of the Cardinals' last 54 games, only 12 will be against
teams with winning records. Seventeen of their previous 20 games
were on the road. ... The Cardinals lead the NL with 178 homers and
have connected in all but 21 games. ... Brian Jordan had two hits
and is 7-for-16 the last four games. ... The Braves have lost three
in a row twice, from May 6-8 and from June 15-17. ... Benes has
allowed a staff-high 27 homers. ... The Braves are 56-5 when
leading after seven innings and 59-2 when leading after eight. ...
The Braves were 3-for-3 stealing against Hernandez.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Atlanta Clubhouse
St. Louis Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 5
Kansas City 4
Cleveland 11
Anaheim 10
Minnesota 3
Detroit 1
NY Yankees 13
Seattle 6
Toronto 10
Texas 8
Baltimore 10
Tampa Bay 9
Oakland 5
Chi. White Sox 3
Florida 2
Cincinnati 1
Houston 7
Montreal 6
Atlanta 6
St. Louis 4
Colorado 8
Philadelphia 1
NY Mets 6
Arizona 1
San Diego 11
Chicago Cubs 9
Los Angeles 2
Milwaukee 1
San Francisco 5
Pittsburgh 3
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