ATLANTA - Freddie Freeman, the Atlanta Braves' veteran first baseman, spent the past four years enduring an average of 90 losses per season.
Now that the Braves are again challenging for a division title, the three-time All-Star knows his club can't afford any long losing streaks.
"It's been four days, so I thought this was a big win for our team," Freeman said. "I thought we played a quality baseball game today, and hopefully we can carry that into this Philly series."
Freeman hit a two-run home run and drove in three runs, and Touki Toussaint pitched into the sixth inning as the NL East-leading Braves snapped their four-game skid with a 7-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday.
It was a big win for Atlanta, which began the day with a 5 1/2-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies and opens a four-game home series against them Thursday. The Braves need any combination of six victories or Philadelphia losses to clinch their first division title since 2013.
St. Louis, which had won three straight, began the day leading Colorado by 1 1/2 games for the second wild-card spot in the National League.
Atlanta closer A.J. Minter, working in a nonsave situation in the ninth, walked two batters to load the bases with one out but ended the threat by striking out Jose Martinez and getting Paul DeJong to pop up.
Freeman's 23rd homer this season, an opposite-field shot to left-center, put the Braves up 2-0 in the fourth against Jack Flaherty. Freeman went 3-for-3 and is hitting .405 over his past 11 games.
"He's getting the ball in the air and it's carrying, and that's always a good thing," Atlanta manager Brian Snitker said. "That's a welcomed sight if we can get him going."
Toussaint (2-1) allowed five hits, two runs, three walks and struck out eight in 5 2/3 innings. A rookie making his fourth start in the majors, Toussaint was chased after Yadier Molina's RBI single cut the lead to 5-2 in the sixth inning.
"We survived the first couple of innings with essentially zero fastball command, then suddenly we had some decent command of it and were able to flip the script and challenge guys with some early contacts," Braves catcher Tyler Flowers said of Toussaint's pitching. "If he gets ahead of guys, it's a tough arsenal to defend."
The Cardinals' Harrison Bader was hit in the back of the helmet by a pitch in the third, but he convinced trainers he wasn't affected and jogged to first. Going deep against Toussaint in the fifth for his 12th homer this season, Bader said he felt no measure of revenge. Toussaint wasn't trying to hit him.
"The two are completely independent of each other, honestly," Bader said. "I was just trying to make a good swing."
Flaherty (8-8) gave up five hits, a season-high five runs and two walks with six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings. Facing the Braves for the first time, Flaherty began the game as the NL rookie leader in strikeouts, winning percentage and opponents' batting average. He had gone 4-1 with 1.69 ERA in his previous eight starts.
Flowers doubled to begin the three-run fifth and scored on a wild pitch. Freeman chased Flaherty with an RBI single, and the lead swelled to four runs on a double steal by Ender Inciarte and Freeman. The Braves successfully challenged to get the call overturned that Freeman had been tagged out.
"I thought things went well early, then Freeman put a good swing on a ball, and then in that one inning things kind of got away," Flaherty said. "I put a couple of guys on base with walks, and then Freeman put another good swing on the ball."
Atlanta added a run to make it 6-2 in the seventh. Inciarte doubled and scored when second baseman Kolten Wong threw errantly to first on a potential double-play grounder.
Jedd Gyorko's sacrifice fly in the eighth cut the lead to 6-3. In the bottom half of the inning, Flowers' eighth homer of the season made it 7-3.
At least for one game, the Braves played well at SunTrust Park. They had dropped 14 of 18 at home and have won just one of their past seven series there.
Freeman, who became the first Atlanta first baseman with 20 homers and 10 stolen bases in a season since Dale Murphy in 1978, wants his teammates to enjoy the pennant race and not press.
Freeman made his MLB debut as a September call-up in 2010, when the Braves reached the postseason as a wild card. The Braves were a wild-card team again in 2012 and won their most recent division title in 2013.
"It's fun. It really is," Freeman said. "This is what you work for six, seven months. To be in this situation this year, it's the greatest feeling there is."