Sheffield Provides Right Ingredients

Gary Sheffield gave all of his fans something to cheer about, although eight in particular seemed to get the most out of it.

Sheffield homered, doubled and drove in three runs to the delight of his own rooting section in right field, and the Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-3, Tuesday night.

For the first time this season, eight fans in the upper deck unfurled a banner that read “Sheff’s Chefs.” All donned chef costumes, including the hats, and praised Sheffield throughout the game.

As Sheffield circled the bases after his solo home run in the fifth, the group responded with “we’re not worthy” bows.

“Hopefully, they continue to stay out there and I continue to do what I did,” Sheffield said. “I was thankful that I had a fan base out there that roots you on. It kind of pumps you up a little bit.”

The Braves have won seven of eight and are two games over .500 for the first time this season.

The Cardinals have lost three in a row.

Russ Ortiz (2-2), who won for the first time in three starts, gave up five hits and two runs in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out seven, but left in the seventh after giving up a home run to Tino Martinez and a single to J.D. Drew.

“Sometimes you get in a situation where you try to make a better pitch than you’re capable of,” Ortiz said. “I was just working on keeping the ball down, mixing my speeds and location, keeping them off balance as much as possible.”

Right-hander Kevin Gryboski got Mike Matheny to ground into a double play to end the seventh inning. John Smoltz got four outs for his seventh save in as many tries this season and 23rd in a row dating to last year.

The Cardinals got an unearned run against Roberto Hernandez in the eighth after a two-base error by center fielder Andruw Jones, who misplayed a single by Fernando Vina.

Vina scored on a groundout by Orlando Palmeiro and, after Edgar Renteria singled, Smoltz came in and struck out Jim Edmonds on three pitches to end the threat.