ATLANTA - Georgia native Adam Wainwright didn’t hang his head after his first loss in five career appearances at Turner Field.
In fact, Wainwright said he had “great stuff,” including “the best my changeup has been in a while.”
The only problem was, Atlanta’s Mike Minor was even better.
Wainwright took his first loss in more than a month as the St. Louis Cardinals fell to the Braves 4-1 on Friday night in a match up of division leaders.
Wainwright gave up a home run to Jason Heyward, and Minor allowed only one run to give Atlanta’s depleted rotation a lift.
Wainwright (13-6), the NL leader in wins, took his first loss since a2-1 decision to Texas on June 23. He allowed four runs, three earned, on seven hits and one walk with eight strikeouts in seven innings.
“He competed like he always does and gave us a chance, if we could have gotten something going offensively,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “It was one of those nights where we didn’t.”
Wainwright, from Brunswick, Ga., had been 3-0 with a 2.35 ERA in his first four appearances in Atlanta.
Minor (10-5) gave up four hits with no walks in seven innings. His sharp performance came two days after Tim Hudson was lost for the season with a broken right ankle.
The Atlanta rotation also is without left-hander Paul Maholm, who isn’t on the disabled list but is expected to miss at least one start because of a bruised left wrist.
METS 11-1, NATIONALS 0-2 Ryan Zimmerman homered with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning Friday night, lifting Washington over the New York Mets for a doubleheader split. In the opener, Jenrry Mejia pitched seven scoreless innings in his season debut, and Daniel Murphy homered twice and tied a career high with five RBIs for the Mets. Murphy had two hits for New York in the nightcap and went 6 for 9 in the day-night doubleheader.
MARLINS 2, PIRATES 0 Henderson Alvarez earned his first National League victory, Giancarlo Stanton hit his 12th homer, and host Miami managed another low-scoring victory by beating Pittsburgh.
ROCKIES 8, BREWERS 3 Tyler Chatwood pitched seven strong innings and hit a two-run double to help host Colorado break out offensively, leading his team to a victory over Milwaukee. Todd Helton and Nolan Arenado each had two hits and an RBI for the Rockies.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
ORIOLES 6, RED SOX 0 Chris Tillman pitched seven innings of two-hit ball, Adam Jones homered twice and host Baltimore defeated Boston to end a three-game skid. Boston has dropped six of nine.
BLUE JAYS 12, ASTROS 6 Edwin Encarnacion hit two home runs in one inning, including his sixth career grand slam, and Jose Reyes,Adam Lind and Brett Lawrie also went deep as Toronto beat visiting Houston.
RAYS 10, YANKEES 6 Jeremy Hellickson retired newcomer Alfonso Soriano with the bases loaded to preserve an early lead and streaking Tampa Bay tagged CC Sabathia once again, beating host New York. The Rays have won 20 of 23 and took sole possession of the AL East lead for the first time since June 10, 2012.
INDIANS 11, RANGERS 8 (11) Ryan Raburn’s three-run homer in the 11th inning off Jason Frasor gave Cleveland a wild and sloppy victory over visiting Texas.
ROYALS 5, WHITE SOX 1 James Shields tossed seven shutout innings and rookie David Lough homered and drove in another run to lead Kansas City to a victory over host Chicago. The Royals (49-51) have won four straight and six of eight since the All-Star break. The White Sox (40-60) have lost four of five.
INTERLEAGUE
TIGERS 2, PHILLIES 1 Alex Avila’s two-run double in the fifth inning put Detroit ahead, and Doug Fister pitched eight impressive innings for the Tigers in a 2-1 victory over visiting Philadelphia.
Friday’s games
NATIONAL LEAGUE NY Mets 11-1, Washington 0-2 Miami 2, Pittsburgh 0 Atlanta 4, St. Louis 1 Colorado 8, Milwaukee 3 San Diego at Arizona, (n) Cincinnati at LA Dodgers, (n) Chicago Cubs at San Francisco, (n)
AMERICAN LEAGUE Baltimore 6, Boston 0 Tampa Bay 10, NY Yankees 6 Cleveland 11, Texas 8 (11) Toronto 12, Houston 6 Kansas City 5, Chicago White Sox 1 LA Angels at Oakland, (n) Minnesota at Seattle, (n)
INTERLEAGUE Detroit 2, Philadelphia 1
Sports, Pages 22 on 07/27/2013