51ºÚÁÏ

After the Cardinals’ ability to load the bases in the eighth inning led to a game-tying run on a wild pitch, their inability to find an offensive answer in the ninth when they once again trailed led to a second consecutive defeat at the hands of the Braves.

The Cardinals went down in order in the ninth inning of a 7-6 loss on Saturday at Busch Stadium after a run allowed by closer Ryan Helsley in the ninth inning put them behind by a run. The Cardinals reached the top of the ninth inning tied following a three-run homer from Sean Murphy off Phil Maton wiped away a 5-3 Cardinals lead and marked the first home run Maton allowed in a year.

Before pinch-runner Garrett Hampson scored on a wild pitch with two outs in the eighth inning, the Cardinals (50-46) produced a three-run second inning highlighted by Nolan Gorman’s two-run homer that helped them claw back to a tied game after starter Erick Fedde allowed three runs in his first two innings. Runs in the sixth and seventh innings on a go-ahead homer by Yohel Pozo and a single from All-Star Brendan Donovan helped build the lead that Murphy would evaporate.

Given another starting shot after allowing 17 runs across 10 innings in his previous three starts, Fedde allowed three runs in his first two innings but managed to keep the Braves scoreless through his next 2 2/3 frames before his exit. Fedde allowed runs on homers from Ronald Acuna Jr. and Marcell Ozuna.

The right-hander allowed a leadoff single to Michael Harris II and issued a two-out walk to Matt Olson in an 11-pitch battle that brought Acuna to the plate and Gordon Graceffo, who was recalled to the majors on Saturday, to the mound.

Graceffo struck out Acuna to keep the game tied and provided 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief. JoJo Romero provided 2/3 of an inning of scoreless work before Maton entered.

Maton’s streak snaps

The 5-3 lead the Cardinals built themselves heading into the eighth inning on Saturday against the Braves evaporated with the type of swing reliever Maton had not allowed in exactly one year.

Riding a stretch of 61 1/3 innings without giving up a home run entering Saturday, Maton allowed a three-run home run to Murphy with one out in the eighth inning that marked the first homer he had given up since July 12, 2024, and sunk the Cardinals in a 6-5 loss to Atlanta at Busch Stadium.

Before allowing the homer, Maton had gone 65 appearances without allowing a home run. The stretch was the second-longest active streak in the majors at the start of Saturday. Maton was one of six relievers in the majors who faced 140 or more batters without allowing a homer.

Graceffo returns to big spot

Back in the majors for the first time since the final weeks of June, Graceffo’s first outing back in the majors came with traffic already on the bases and one of Atlanta’s top hitters at the plate.

Graceffo, who was recalled Saturday morning to provide innings from the bullpen, was summoned from the bullpen with two outs in the fifth inning, runners on first and second base, and Ronald Acuna Jr. due up in a tied game.

The right-hander needed five pitches to set Acuna down with a strikeout and strand the runners he inherited from Fedde. In the at-bat, Graceffo got a swinging strike of the former National League MVP with a 2-1 slider that touched 88 mph. He followed that with a slider that broke below the strike zone to get Acuna out, swinging.

Graceffo struck out two of the three batters he faced in the sixth inning and got a pop out of Nacho Alvarez Jr. to begin the seventh inning before being lifted for lefty Romero with Braves’ lefties looming.

Fedde’s finish

Across the 2 2/3 innings he held the Braves scoreless through, Fedde induced five groundouts, which included a double play on a grounder from Ozzie Albies in the fourth inning. Three of the five groundouts came on cutters.

A cutter to begin his encounter with Fedde in the fourth inning was hammered into the ground by the switch-hitting Braves second baseman. The ground ball was fielded at the first base bag by Willson Contreras, who stepped on the base and chased down Ozuna for an unassisted double play.

When he fell behind in the count, 2-1 to Acuna, Fedde got the star outfielder to whiff on a cutter thrown away and at the knees, then got him to chase a cutter out of the strike zone for a groundout to shortstop Masyn Winn.

Nootbaar makes early exit

Lars Nootbaar exited from Saturday’s game at the start of the sixth inning because of left side discomfort, the Cardinals said. He was replaced on defense in left field by Jose Fermin.

The injury that forced Nootbaar to an early exit on Saturday forced him to exit early on Thursday for what he said was a precaution and kept him limited near the end of June. The injury is one that has said to flare up with Nootbaar after check swing during his at-bat.

Braves 7, Cardinals 6

Atlanta AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Profar lf 5 1 1 1 0 1 .241

Olson 1b 4 0 0 0 1 1 .260

Acuña rf 3 2 1 1 1 1 .333

Murphy c 4 1 1 3 0 1 .236

Ozuna dh 4 1 2 1 0 1 .239

Albies 2b 4 1 1 0 0 0 .219

Alvarez 3b 4 1 2 0 0 0 .500

Harris cf 3 0 1 1 0 0 .207

Allen ss 2 0 0 0 0 1 .237

Baldwin ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .285

Totals 34 7 10 7 2 6

51ºÚÁÏ AB R H BI BB SO Avg.

Donovan 2b 4 0 2 1 1 1 .297

Winn ss 5 0 0 0 0 1 .255

Contreras 1b 4 0 0 0 0 3 .253

Burleson rf 3 0 0 0 1 0 .289

Hampson pr-rf 0 1 0 0 0 0 .176

Pozo c 4 2 2 1 0 1 .312

Nootbaar lf 2 0 0 0 0 1 .227

Fermín lf 1 0 0 0 1 0 .429

Saggese 3b 3 1 1 1 1 1 .244

Gorman dh 4 2 2 2 0 2 .219

Scott cf 3 0 0 0 0 2 .234

Totals 33 6 7 5 4 12

Atlanta 120 000 031 — 7 10 0

51ºÚÁÏ 030 001 110 — 6 7 0

LOB: Atlanta 4, 51ºÚÁÏ 5. 2B: Profar (4), Pozo (6). HR: Acuña (12), off Fedde; Ozuna (13), off Fedde; Murphy (16), off Maton; Gorman (9), off Bummer; Pozo (4), off Montero. RBIs: Acuña (22), Ozuna (42), Harris (44), Murphy 3 (38), Profar (7), Saggese (10), Gorman 2 (29), Pozo (14), Donovan (36). SB: Hampson (1). S: Allen, Harris, Scott. DP: 51ºÚÁÏ 1.

Atlanta IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Bummer 2 4 3 3 0 1 3.89

Wentz 3 0 0 0 1 6 0.00

Montero 1 1 1 1 0 1 3.90

Lee 1 2 1 1 0 1 2.55

Hernández, W 4-1 1 0 1 1 3 2 2.10

Iglesias, S, 11-15 1 0 0 0 0 1 4.42

51ºÚÁÏ IP H R ER BB SO ERA

Fedde 42/3 6 3 3 1 1 4.83

Graceffo 12/3 0 0 0 0 3 6.05

Romero 2/3 0 0 0 0 1 2.45

Maton 1 2 3 3 1 1 2.55

Helsley, L, 3-1 1 2 1 1 0 0 3.38

Inherited runners-scored: Graceffo 2-0. WP: Lee, Hernández. T: 2:35. Att.: 31,807.