Sheffield Puts Away Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals finally got a hit off Damian Moss. It didn’t do them any good.

The Australian left-hander gave up only one hit in eight innings, and the Atlanta Braves beat the Cardinals, 2-1, on Gary Sheffield’s leadoff homer in the ninth Sunday night.

The Braves, running away in the NL East, won their sixth in a row and swept the three-game series against the Central-leading Cardinals.

Overall, St. Louis has a five-game losing streak, tying its season high and bringing second-place Cincinnati within two games.

Moss pitched seven no-hit innings in his other appearance against the Cardinals on May 3. He was lifted after throwing 116 pitches and didn’t get a decision as the Braves won 2-1 in 11 innings.

These days, hardly anyone is hitting Moss. In his last three starts, the rookie has given up four hits in 22 innings.

“I’ve never been one of those guys who gave up a lot of hits,” Moss said. “I don’t know what it is because I’ve never faced myself. I can’t explain it.”

The Cardinals can’t figure him out either.

“The guy on the other side was awesome,” said St. Louis starter Andy Benes, who gave up only four hits in 7 1/3 innings. “There are days when you have to go out and win the game 1-0.”

The Braves scored the tying run in the eighth and Sheffield gave Atlanta the victory, hitting a 397-foot shot into the left-field stands to lead off the ninth against Dave Veres (4-7).

Down 0-and-2 in the count, Sheffield basically hit the ball one-handed, lunging at a split-finger fastball that didn’t break outside far enough.

“When the count is in your favor, you can take a shot for the fences,” he said. “I was just trying to make contact.”

Veres was stunned when the ball sailed over the fence.

“I’ll take that pitch nine out of 10 times,” he said. “It was two inches in front of the plate and two inches outside. It’s amazing he could hit it that hard that far.”

John Smoltz (2-2) got the victory with a scoreless ninth, but Moss did most of the work with another dominating performance. Mike Matheny had the lone hit for the Cardinals, a third-inning single that led to an unearned run.

Benes took a shutout into the eighth, but was taken out after Henry Blanco’s one-out double off the left-field wall.

The slow-running Blanco was replaced by Jason Marquis, a starting pitcher who got the victory Saturday. That proved to be a key move.

Marquis stayed put when Michael Crudale struck out pinch-hitter Matt Franco on three pitches. But Rafael Furcal, who barely missed making the third out when a foul pop dropped between three players, singled up the middle to bring home the tying run.

Matheny blocked the plate and Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa argued that Marquis never touched home. But umpire Jeff Nelson ruled that the sliding runner barely nicked the plate with his left foot before tumbling over backward.

“I was trying to push his front leg out of the way,” Marquis said. “By the time he tagged me, I was already by him.”