The Atlanta Braves defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 6-1 on Tuesday evening in the first outing of a three-game National League series at Busch Stadum in St. Louis, MO.
The Braves notched five runs off Jon Lester during the top of the first inning, including a two-run homer from Jorge Soler; that was his first home run as a Brave.
Freddie Freeman added a solo home run in the second; it was his 24th homer of the year.
Max Fried got the win for Atlanta after giving up just four hits, walking one, and striking out seven over six scoreless innings.
Lester was charged with the loss in his debut with St. Louis, whose only run of the night was scored by Tyler O’Neill on an RBI single by Yadier Molina off Josh Tomlin in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The Braves improved to 53-54 on the season and remain in third place of the NL East, now two and a half games back from the first place New York Mets. The Cardinals are back at .500 at 53-53 and in third place of the NL Central. Those teams will meet again tonight at 8:15 pm. The game will be broadcast on WLAQ 1410 AM and 96.9 FM; air time is 7 pm.