ST. LOUIS (AP) - Allen Craig had three hits, drove in a run and scored twice and Lance Lynn allowed two runs over seven innings to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday night.
Lynn (5-2) allowed seven hits walked two and struck out three. Carlos Martinez retired the Braves on four pitches in the eighth and Trevor Rosenthal set down the side in order for his 12th save in 13 opportunities.
Matt Carpenter and Kolten Wong had two hits each and scored a run for St. Louis. Matt Holiday, Matt Adams and Yadier Molina all drove in a run for the Cardinals.
St. Louis finished the game without manager Mike Matheny and center fielder Peter Bourjos, both of whom were ejected by home plate umpire Sean Barber at the end of the fourth inning for arguing balls and strikes.
The Braves' Chris Johnson went 2 for 4 with a run scored. Johnson is batting .377 (20 for 53) in May.
While Johnson has been hot, his teammates have not. The Braves, who have lost 11 of 16, were held to two or fewer runs for the 18th time.
Ervin Santana (4-1) took his first loss as a member of the Braves. Santana lasted five innings and allowed five runs and 10 hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
St. Louis broke open a 2-2 tie by scoring three times in the fifth. With one out, Carpenter and Wong singled. Holliday followed with an RBI double down the right field line to score Carpenter. Wong scored on Craig's single to left and Molina made it 5-2 with a sacrifice fly.
The Braves took a 1-0 lead in the second on a two-out RBI single by Tyler Pastornicky, but the Cardinals tied it in the bottom of the inning on Adams' RBI double. After the Braves took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on Andrelton Simmons' 6-4-3 double play ball, the Cardinals tied it in the bottom of the frame when Craig scored from third on Santana's wild pitch with two outs.
NOTES: Jhonny Peralta stole second in the fourth inning for his first stolen base as a member of the Cardinals. ... Santana had two wild pitches, giving him a total of five, one behind Arizona's Wade Miley for the most in the National League. ... Atlanta's Aaron Harang (4-3) will oppose Shelby Miller (5-2) in the second game of the series Saturday. ... Friday was the first time that Santana has allowed five or more earned runs since Aug. 9, 2013, in a 9-6 win over Boston when he was with Kansas City.
Related video:
Cardinals vs. Braves game highlights
Posted earlier:
ST. LOUIS (AP) - St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Peter Bourjos and manager Mike Matheny were ejected at the end of the fourth inning of Friday night's game with the Atlanta Braves.
Bourjos took two borderline pitches for strikes and eventually struck out swinging on a 1-2 pitch from Braves starter Ervin Santana to end the inning. As the teams changed sides, Bourjos said something to home plate umpire Sean Barber and was ejected. Matheny then came out to protest and he was tossed.
The ejection was the first ever for Bourjos. It was Matheny's seventh ejection since taking over as manager of the Cardinals in 2012.