Cardinals fall again to Braves

ATLANTA - Andrelton Simmons and the Braves haven’t said much about last year’s NL wild-card loss to the Cardinals.

Beating the Cardinals in July won’t make up for that playoff defeat. But Simmons said it’s a start.

Simmons hit a two-run double in the eighth inning and the Braves, boosted by Julio Teheran’s sharp outing, beat the Cardinals 2-0 Saturday in a matchup of NL division leaders.

The Braves have won the first two games of the first series between the teams this season. The Cardinals beat the Braves 6-3 at Turner Field in last season’s wild-card game.

“They’re a great team,” Simmons said of the Cardinals. “They got us last year in a pretty big game. We owe them some. It’s good to see this team beating them.”

Teheran allowed 2 hits in 7 innings, striking out 6 and walking 1.

Simmons’ bases-loaded, two-out double came on a 99 mph fastball from Trevor Rosenthal. With the count at 2-1, Simmons was looking for a fastball.

“I know he was behind in the count and I know he’s comfortable with his fastball,” Simmons said. “He throws pretty hard. I was ready for it. … I was justlooking for something over the plate and he threw it somewhere I could reach it.”

Randy Choate (1-1) walked Freddie Freeman to open the eighth. Evan Gattis struck out and Brian McCann singled. Rosenthal relieved and struck out Dan Uggla before walking Chris Johnson to load the bases. Simmons followed with the double.

Luis Avilan (3-0) pitched a perfect eighth, and Craig Kimbrel recorded three outs to earn his 30th save.

Cardinals starter Joe Kelly pitched 61/3 scoreless innings, allowing 7 hits and walking 3 in only his fourth start of the season and first appearance since July 12.

“Very, very impressive,” said Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny. “It was maybe the best I’ve ever seen him throw. Everything. His aggressiveness, his slider, breaking ball, changeup, all of them were as goodas I’ve seen. That was exactly what we were asking for, and then some.” NATIONALS 4, METS 1 Bryce Harper, Ian Desmond and Denard Span all hit home runs, powering host Washington to a victory over New York. Dan Haren (5-11) pitched seven innings for his first victory since May 9, allowing one run and three hits. Desmond and Span hit back-to-back home runs against Dillon Gee (7-8) in the second inning and Harper followed with a two-run drive in the third.

PADRES 12, DIAMONDBACKS 3 Andrew Cashner threw six solid innings and hit his first career home run to help lead visiting San Diego to a victory over Arizona. Chris Denorfia and Chase Headley added back-to-back home runs, Yonder Alonso drove in four runs and Carlos Quentin had three RBI for the Padres.

PIRATES 7, MARLINS 4 Michael McKenry had a career-best four hits and drove in two runs, Neil Walker and Garrett Jones each added two RBI, and visiting Pittsburgh beat Miami. McKenry, who came into the night batting .191, raised his average 26 points with a double and three singles. Walker added three hits for the Pirates.

CUBS 1, GIANTS 0 Nate Schierholtz hit a home run off former teammate Sergio Romo with one out in the ninth inning to lift visiting Chicago to a victory over San Francisco. Dropped to sixth in the Cubs’ order, Schierholtz worked a full count off Romo (3-6) before hitting the home run into theright-field stands to hand Romo his second blown save in as many games.

DODGERS 4, REDS 1 Hyun-Jin Ryu gave up two hits over seven innings and retired his last 13 batters, Skip Schumaker hit a tiebreaking two-run home run and host Los Angeles beat Cincinnati. Ryu (9-3) had nine strikeouts, all in a span of 13 batters.

AMERICAN LEAGUE ASTROS 8, BLUE JAYS 6 Chris Carter hit a three-run home run, Justin Maxwell and Matt Dominguez added home runs and visiting Houston beat Toronto to snap a three-game losing streak. Former Arkansas Razorback Dallas Keuchel (5-5) pitched a season-high 7 1/3 innings to end a six-start winless skid. He allowed 6 runs and 10 hits, walked 1 and struck out 6 for his first victory since June 16.

ATHLETICS 3, ANGELS 1 Derek Norris had a pinch-hit two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning in Oakland’s victory over visiting Los Angeles. Jed Lowrie also drove in a run for the A’s. Coco Crisp added two hits.

RAYS 1, YANKEES 0 Chris Archer (6-3) threw a two-hitter for his second shutout in three starts, outpitching Ivan Nova and leading visiting Tampa Bay to a victory over New York. Kelly Johnson had an RBI single off Nova (4-4) in the sixth. TWINS 4, MARINERS 0 Brian Dozier and Justin Morneau hit home runs, Samuel Deduno (7-4) pitched seven scoreless innings and visiting Minnesota blanked Seattle. Brad Miller and Kyle Seager each had two hits for Seattle, which has lost three of four.

INDIANS 1, RANGERS 0 Michael Bourn homered to lead off the first inning and Justin Masterson took a shutout into the eighth inning, outdueling Texas’ Yu Darvish in Cleveland’s victory over the visiting Rangers. Masterson (12-7)struck out 8 and allowed 5 hits in 7 2/3 innings. That was enough to beat Darvish (9-5), who struck out 11 and held the Indians to three hits in six innings.

RED SOX 7, ORIOLES 3 Stephen Drew hit two home runs, drove in five runs and scored three times to power visiting Boston past Baltimore. Shane Victorino also connected for the Red Sox. Red Sox slugger David Ortiz was ejected from the game in the seventh inning by home plate umpire Tim Timmons for arguing a called strike during an at-bat that ended in a strikeout. Ortiz destroyed the covers of two dugout phones with his bat, then charged onto the field and had to be restrained by Manager John Farrell and bench coach Torey Lovullo.

ROYALS 1, WHITE SOX 0 Wade Davis pitched four-hit ball into the eighth inning and visiting Kansas City beat Chris Sale and Chicago. Davis (5-9) allowed four hits - all singles - and walked three in his longest outing of the season. INTERLEAGUE TIGERS 10, PHILLIES 0 Miguel Cabrera homered in his first at-bat after returning from a hip injury and Max Scherzer (15-1) held visiting Philadelphia to one hit in six innings to become baseball’s first 15-game winner as Detroit shut out Philadelphia. Detroit scored five runs in the first and three in the second off Raul Valdes (1-1), who started because Cliff Lee (Benton, Arkansas Razorbacks) was out with a stiff neck.Saturday’s games NATIONAL LEAGUE Washington 4, NY Mets 1 Atlanta 2, St. Louis 0 Pittsburgh 7, Miami 4 Milwaukee at Colorado, (n) San Diego 12, Arizona 3 Chicago Cubs 1, San Francisco 0 LA Dodgers 4, Cincinnati 1 AMERICAN LEAGUE Tampa Bay 1, NY Yankees 0 Houston 8, Toronto 6 Oakland 3, LA Angels 1 Minnesota 4, Seattle 0 Boston 7, Baltimore 3 Cleveland 1, Texas 0 Kansas City 1, Chicago White Sox 0 INTERLEAGUE Detroit 10, Philadelphia 0