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ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Rookie Albert Pujols was robbed of a home run in the first inning, but had a sacrifice fly to snap a seventh-inning tie as the St. Louis Cardinals went on to a 4-2 victory over the struggling Atlanta Braves. With a runner on first and two outs in the opening inning, Pujols drove Tom Glavine's pitch to deep center field but Andruw Jones leaped over the wall and saved two runs. Pujols, who had his nine-game hitting streak stopped, came up with the bases loaded in the seventh inning and lofted another fly ball to Jones, scoring Fernando Vina for a 2-1 lead. The Cardinals also had a chance to take the lead in the second with runners on first and second when right fielder Brian Jordan jumped at the wall to snare Eli Marrero's drive. "The outfield play, you expect that from them," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "Those balls were hit well, we only needed a couple of feet." Dustin Hermanson (2-1) went six innings, allowing one run and four hits to win for the first time since April 6. The righthander threw 85 pitches, walking two and striking out three. "I just tried to keep the ball down tonight," Hermanson said. "I tried to get ahead of the guys. The times I fell behind guys they would go after the strikes that I threw them and pop it up or something." Gene Stechschulte gave up one run and two hits in the seventh, and Dave Veres allowed one hit and struck out two in two scoreless innings for his third save in as many chances. Veres has saves in St. Louis' last two games after going five appearances without one. "I tried to get a ahead with a two-run lead," said Veres, who threw 15 of 23 pitches for strikes. "I didn't want to fall behind and walk guys. I thought I hit my spots pretty good. I feel all right, my location is much better. For me that's what I need." Glavine (4-2) was reached for four runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings as the Braves lost for the fourth time in five games. "I feel really good about how I threw the ball," Glavine said. "There were a lot of things that I did well today or as well as I did in a long time. Sometimes you pitch well and the result isn't what you want. That's the nature of the game." Jones and Rafael Furcal drove in runs for Atlanta, which has managed just 14 runs in its last six games. Fernando Vina had a one-out infield single off Glavine in the seventh and Placido Polanco followed with a base hit to center. Glavine then walked Jim Edmonds to load the bases and Pujols followed with the sacrifice fly. J.D. Drew walked to load the bases and Edgar Renteria blooped an 0-1 pitch into right field to plate Polanco and Edmonds for a 4-1 lead. "It was a good changeup," Renteria said. "I was not trying to do too much with it but put the ball in play." Keith Lockhart and pinch hitter Dave Martinez had one-out singles off Stechschulte in the seventh and both moved up on a wild pitch. Furcal grounded out to score Lockhart and Stechschulte retired Jones on a groundout, maintaining the two-run lead.
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