St. Louis Cardinals keep Atlanta Braves winless

ATLANTA — The St. Louis Cardinals clubbed three pinch-hit homers, including the go-ahead shot from Alydmys Diaz in the eighth inning, to overcome a four-run deficit and defeat the Atlanta Braves 7-4 on Friday at Turner Field.

Diaz, a rookie from Cuba, hit the second pitch from reliever Eric O’Flaherty (0-1) deep into the left field seats for his first career homer.

Greg Garcia added some insurance with a solo pinch-hit homer against John Gant in the ninth inning. Gant also allowed a solo homer to right fielder Stephen Piscotty.

The Cardinals, who trailed 4-0 after three innings, tied the game when Jeremy Hazelbaker led off the seventh inning with the first pinch-hit homer of his career and second homer of the season.

It was the first win of the season for St. Louis (1-3). Atlanta dropped to 0-3.

The winning pitcher was Kevin Siegrist (1-0), who pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Siegrist entered the game in the seventh with runners on the corners and retired Nick Markakis on a fielder’s choice to end the inning.

Trevor Rosenthal pitched a scoreless ninth inning, striking out two, to earn his first save.

Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia pitched six innings and allowed four runs on five hits and three walks, striking out six.

Atlanta starter Matt Wisler pitched 6 2/3 innings and allowed four runs on seven hits and one walk. Wisler struck out seven

The Braves scored four times in the third.

The rally started when Wisler led off with an opposite-field single to right. He went to third on a bloop single by Drew Stubbs, who stole second base. Wisler scored on Erick Aybar’s sacrifice fly to right, beating the throw from Piscotty by a step.

Garcia struck out Freddie Freeman but opted to intentionally walk Adonis Garcia and face left-handed-hitting Nick Markakis. But the veteran right fielder lined the first pitch he saw into left field to drive in Stubbs.

Hector Olivera and Tyler Flowers followed with RBI singles, giving the Braves their biggest inning of the season.

The Cardinals answered with three runs in the fourth.

Matt Holliday doubled and Matt Adams dropped a single into left. Holliday scored on Yadier Molina’s infield grounder and Adams came home on a wild pitch. Kolton Wong walked, took third on Jedd Gyorko’s single and scored on an infield hit by Garcia.

The Braves lost starting center fielder Ender Inciarte in the first inning. He left with tightness in his left hamstring after running out a ground ball.