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ATLANTA -- When Andrelton Simmons botched a grounder, the St. cheap china jerseys . Louis Cardinals seized their opportunity. For the Atlanta Braves, it was another night of missed chances. Matt Carpenters two-run double that helped carry St. Louis past the slumping Braves, who shook up their lineup but still lost their seventh in a row, 4-3 on Monday. The Cardinals scored three runs in the fifth inning, taking advantage of shaky defence by Atlantas Gold Glove shortstop. In fact, Simmons had a couple of plays that couldve been scored errors but were initially ruled hits. The second one was changed to an E-6 and turned out to be especially costly, leading to a pair of unearned runs. St. Louis built a 4-0 lead and barely held on to win the series opener. "It was big," Carpenter said. "Especially when we got out to a big lead, to be able to hold them off, that was big for us." Desperate for more offence, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez batted pitcher Aaron Harang eighth and put second baseman Ramiro Pena in the ninth spot. Pena had two hits, including a seventh-inning homer that brought the Braves within a run, but they couldnt overcome a 4-0 deficit. Juston Upton took a called third strike from Trevor Rosenthal to end the game with the potential tying run at second base -- Uptons fourth strikeout of the night and extending Atlantas woes with runners in scoring position. The Braves were 1 for 12 in those situations and are 6 of 51 during their losing streak, though Freddie Freeman saw some encouraging signs. "We hit some balls hard with runners on," he said. "We were in the game the whole game. We couldnt say that the past week." The last time the Braves had such a lengthy skid was May 21-28, 2012, when they dropped eight in a row. Their longest losing streak last season was four straight. Shelby Miller (4-2) got a shaky win, giving up six hits and two runs in five-plus innings. Trevor Rosenthal pitched out of trouble for his ninth save, giving up a leadoff single to Simmons. Jordan Schafer bunted the runner to second, but Pena flied out to right before Upton whiffed. Harang (3-3) took the loss, though he pitched much better than his previous start, when he was pounded for nine runs by the Marlins. This time, he gave up four runs in six innings but only two were earned. The game was scoreless until the fifth, when Peter Bourjos led off with a single before Mark Ellis grounded one off Simmons glove. The shortstop, looking to make a force at second, appeared to take his eyes off the ball as it skipped past him. After Miller bunted the runners to second and third, Carpenter doubled to right-centre to bring them both in. Matt Holiday followed with a hard liner past third baseman Chris Johnson to make it 3-0. "Those things happen," Harang said of Simmons error. "I told him not to be too hard on himself. Hes probably going to save my butt plenty of times this year." St. Louis added another run in the fifth on Bourjos RBI single, but Gonzalez challenged a call at third base that had seemingly given the Cardinals a 5-0 lead. Yadier Molinas bases-loaded grounder ricocheted off Harangs leg, right to Johnson at third. He caught it and blindly stepped back in search of the bag and managed to barely nick it, as the replay showed. The called was quickly overturned after a review of only 37 seconds. The Braves knocked out Miller in the bottom half of the sixth, the first three hitters reaching safely. The Cardinals went to the bullpen after Evan Gattis RBI single, and B.J. Upton followed with a sacrifice fly off Pat Neshek. Neshek escaped the jam by striking out Simmons. NOTES: The Cardinals sent pitcher RHP Joe Kelly back to St. Louis to continue his rehab from a strained left hamstring. "Joe just wasnt to the point where they thought they could push him, so keeping him around the rest of this road trip didnt make any sense," general manager John Mozeliak said. "I dont know Id call it a setback as much as he just wasnt progressing as quickly as we wanted." ... Atlanta RHP Gavin Floyd will make his season debut when he starts Tuesday against LHP Tyler Lyons (0-2) of the Cardinals. Floyd is coming back from Tommy John surgery and will start in place of Ervin Santana, who has a bruised right thumb. cheap jerseys from china . The judges scored it 49-46, 49-46, 50-45 for Kennedy. Wrestling proved to be the difference with Kennedy taking Bisping down in the first, third and fifth rounds and keeping him there. The crowd at the Colisee Pepsi didnt like it and neither did Bisping, whose game is built on movement and technical striking. cheap nfl jerseys china . -- Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin will have minor shoulder surgery soon to address a nagging injury he played with last season.DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Top-ranked Serena Williams had little trouble joining sister Venus, in the Dubai Championships semifinals on Thursday. Serena, playing her first tournament since a fourth-round loss at the Australian Open, had little trouble bypassing fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. The only blip in Williams game came when she lost serve in a tentatively played fifth game in the first set. "She was the better player tonight," Jankovic said. "Way better. "I just played a bad match on my terms." The only drama in the 76-minute match came in the final game with Jankovic serving. The umpire, Kader Nouni of France, told Jankovic she was serving too fast and then too slow, when taking more than the 25 seconds allotted. Williams was briefly brought into the fray when Jankovic made note that Williams often took more than the 25 seconds allowed to serve. After the match, the players conversed at the net and both reported they left the court on good terms. "I told her at the end, Look, I didnt mean anything. Im sorry if I played slow," Williams said. "She was like, No, it was more like they say (I) play too fast and then too slow. She said she couldnt get it right. "I was like, Look, are we cool because Im cool with you?" In that final game, Jankovic initially rebounded from love-40 before Williams won on a fourth match point with a scorching forehand passing shot. Williams will play Alize Cornet of France in the semmifinals. wholesale jerseys. Cornet scored a 7-5, 6-3 win over Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain. Venus Williams reached her fourth Dubai semifinal with a 6-3, 7-5 win over qualifier Flavia Pennetta of Italy. Williams, who won this title in 2009 and 2010, had to serve for the match twice in the second set. "She just keeps fighting," Williams said of Pennetta. "She stays relevant. Thats what she does really well. I have to give her credit for that." Serving at 5-4 in the second set, Williams missed out on a match point when Pennetta hit a forehand crosscourt winner to bring the score to deuce. Four points later and Pennetta broke serve to even the score at 5-5. After Pennetta dropped serve in the 11th game Williams had a second chance to close out the match. Initially, Williams fell behind 0-40. On a second match point Pennetta popped a return long to concede the win. Williams will play eighth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, the 2011 Dubai champion, in Fridays semifinals. Wozniacki had little trouble dispatching 27th-ranked Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-1, 6-2. "That was really pleasing, and I always know that Sorana can be a tricky opponent," Wozniacki said. "I felt like I served well and I put the pressure on her and played the way I wanted to play today." Although not guaranteed, Venus Williams wasnt opposed to thinking ahead to the possibility of an all-Williams final on Saturday. "It would be fantastic," Venus said. "But we both have to get there." wholesale jerseys cheap jerseys ' ' ' |
