ST. LOUIS – Austin Riley homered and Ehire Adrianza drove in the go-ahead run with the first of four straight bases-loaded walks as the Atlanta Braves scored six runs in the eighth inning to complete a three-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals with an 8-4 victory Thursday night.
Atlanta’s rally came against a bullpen that couldn’t hold a lead for the second straight night. The Braves (55-54) moved above .500 for the first time this season and sit just 1 1/2 games behind the first-place New York Mets (56-52) in the National League East Division, where Atlanta is the three-time reigning champion.
The Braves are in third place, with the Philadelphia Phillies (56-53) a game ahead of them.
“I hope this kind of gets us that momentum that we need to kind of push to finish up this season strong,” Riley said. “We’re right there in the hunt, so it’s huge.”
Riley’s two-out, two-run homer off Giovanny Gallegos in the eighth tied the game at 4 and denied Cardinals starter Wade LeBlanc his first win in more than a year. The homer came one night after Gallegos gave up three runs in two-thirds of an inning while taking the loss.