St. Louis Cardinals 4, Atlanta Braves 1

The Cardinal pitching shut down the Braves offense and allowed only 3 hits. The only run the Braves could manage was a solo homer by Chipper Jones, his 16th of the season. Woody Williams allowed one run in 7 innings, then Julian Tavarez and Jason Isringhausen shut down the Braves in the final 2 innings.

Paul Byrd did well for 6 innings as he allowed 2 runs and kept the Braves in the game, but he tired in the 7th and Larry Walker got him for a 2 run homer to make it 4-0. That practically put the game out of reach with the way the Cardinals pitching was shutting down the Braves. Kevin Gryboski came on to finish the 7th, then Antonio Alfonseca and Juan Cruz each pitched a shaky but scoreless inning in the 8th and 9th. Chipper's home run in the 7th kept it from being a shutout.

Today, the game is scheduled for 1:20 on Fox. The pitching matchup is Russ Ortiz (13-6, 3.22 ERA) for the Braves and Jason Marquis (12-4, 3.58 ERA) for the Cardinals. Another good pitching duel appears likely.

Game notes: Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, Tommy Holmes, and Kid Nichols were inducted into the Braves Hall of Fame.