83
ASSOCIATED PRESS
St. Louis Cardinals' Kolten Wong gets a base hit to bring in the winning run in the ninth inning of a spring training baseball game against the Atlanta Braves in Jupiter, Fla., Monday, March 12, 2012. St. Louis won 5-4. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Fla.
Kolten Wong drives in winning run for Cardinals
Former University of Hawaii star Kolten Wong drove in the winning run with a two-out ninth-inning single to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-4 split-squad win over the Atlanta Braves on Monday.
Carlos Beltran has recovered from the flu and went 2-for-4 in his return, with singles in the third and seventh innings on the first pitch of each at-bat.
The teams combined to walk 19 batters. Starter Brandon Beachy issued five of the 12 walks for the Braves, who are 1-10 this spring.
The Braves led off Monday with back-to-back singles by Michael Bourn and Martin Prado. Bourn advanced to third on Prado’s single to right and scored when Chipper Jones grounded into a double play.
After the Cardinals tied it in the second, Atlanta scored twice in the third against reliever Joe Kelly. Andrelton Simmons led off with a walk, stole second, and scored on Prado’s RBI single. Prado, who had three hits, came around on Freddie Freeman’s single.
Trailing 3-1, St. Louis loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth on a single and two walks by Atlanta reliever Dusty Hughes. The Cardinals tied it with consecutive sacrifice flies by Erik Komatsu and Ryan Jackson.
Amaury Cazana’s eighth-inning RBI double gave the Cardinals their first lead, but Jordan Parraz’s one-out RBI triple got Atlanta even at 4 in the top of the ninth.
