St. Louis Cardinals rout Atlanta Braves

ATLANTA — Right-hander Carlos Martinez won his first start of the season and drove in two runs to help the St. Louis Cardinals defeat the Atlanta Braves 12-2 on Saturday.

Martinez (1-0) seemed to get stronger as he got deeper in the game. He pitched six innings and retired the final seven batters he faced. He gave up two runs on four hits with three walks and five strikeouts. He drove in a run on a fielder’s choice and another on a single.

The Cardinals posted a season high in runs and hits (14), scored in seven different innings and won their second straight. Atlanta (0-4) is off to its worst start since 2012.

Second baseman Kolten Wong was 3-for-6 and scored three runs to lead the St. Louis offense and third baseman Matt Carpenter reached base four times with two hits and two walks. Eight different Cardinals picked up RBIs.

Atlanta starter Julio Teheran (0-2) threw 89 pitches in four innings and allowed five runs, four earned, on six hits and four walks. He had two wild pitches and struck out four.

The St. Louis bullpen finished the game with three scoreless innings. Tyler Lyons threw two perfect innings with one strikeout and Seth Maness pitched a scoreless ninth inning to finish the game.

The Cardinals loaded the bases without scoring in the first inning but broke through for two runs in the second.

Wong singled, took second on a passed ball and went to third on a wild pitch. With one out, Martinez hit a grounder to second, but Wong slid just ahead of the throw from Jace Peterson. Martinez scored on Carpenter’s double, his first extra-base hit of the season.

St. Louis added a run in the third. Stephen Piscotty singled and scored when Atlanta right fielder Nick Markakis misplayed Wong’s fly ball into a three-base error.

Atlanta cut the lead to 3-2 with two runs in the third. Erick Aybar walked, took second on a wild pitch and scored on a double by Markakis. Freddie Freeman drove in Markakis with a single to left.

The Cardinals got both runs back in the fourth to take a 5-2 lead, thanks to a sacrifice fly from Brandon Moss and an RBI single from Piscotty.

St. Louis made it 7-2 with two runs in the fifth on an RBI single from Martinez and a sacrifice fly by Jeremy Hazelbaker.