ST. LOUIS — Nick Punto hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the 10th inning after Albert Pujols’ two-run single tied it an inning earlier, and the St. Louis Cardinals kept their faint postseason hopes alive with a 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.
Pujols had three hits, and his hit just inside the first-base line with two outs in the ninth ended Craig Kimbrel’s streak of 25 consecutive saves. The Cardinals loaded the bases on a hit and two walks for Pujols, who is 4-for-10 with 11 RBIs with the bases loaded.
Pujols is batting .298 and has 87 RBIs with 18 games to go. He’s batted .300 with 100 RBIs each of his 11 big-league seasons.
Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman singled off Scott Linebrink (4-3) to start the 10th and moved up on a sacrifice. Skip Schumaker was intentionally walked before Punto, with a full count, ended the game with a line drive to center in his first plate appearance since coming off the disabled list from an oblique injury.
Kimbrel leads the majors with 43 saves but had his first blown save since June 14. He had worked 38 consecutive scoreless outings covering 37 2/3 innings, allowing 14 hits and 11 walks with 67 strikeouts.