Braves 1, Cardinals 0

Pitch a shutout and you win most of the time. I think Jair Jurrjens finally figured it out, throwing eight shutout innings to beat the best team in the league, 1-0.

Jair Jurrjens (AP - Jeff Roberson)

The lone run came in the second when Omar Infante hit a grounder that was scored an error due to Albert Pujols not being able to find the bag with his foot. The Cardinals had runners on the corners and no outs in the home half of the second, but Jurrjens struck out the next two and got Yadier Molina to ground out to end the inning. They put another runner in scoring position in the third but Pujols fouled out to first base to end the threat.

The sixth was the biggest threat to the one-run lead. With runners on first and second and no outs, Pujols was hit by a ground ball as he ran to third, preventing the double play due to the dead ball call (personally I think he got hit on purpose). Cory Rasmus followed with a single but Ryan Church threw Matt Holliday out at home to hold the lead. With runners on second and third and two outs, Jurrjens got Mark DeRosa to ground out to end the inning.

Jair Jurrjens: W (11-10), 8 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 7 K
Rafael Soriano: S (23), 1 IP, K

Jurrjens completely dominated the Cardinals and seemed to get the strikeout or groundout when he wanted it. He held Pujols to an 0-4 game with two strikeouts, and Holliday to one hit and a strikeout. Probably the best I've seen him this year, and Brian McCann agreed. Just to prove he's capable of making a move that works, Bobby Cox brought in Rafael Soriano to pitch the ninth again, and this time Soriano got them in order.

Omar Infante: RBI
Yunel Escobar, Adam LaRoche: 2 hits each

The thing that kept the Braves from scoring was all six of the hits were bunched in the 4-7 hitters. Nate McLouth, Martin Prado, and Garret Anderson all went hitless in front of them, and Church went hitless behind them. Chipper Jones got the night off and pinch hit, getting out somehow. I must have flipped it to 300 at the time. Good movie.

Notable Cardinals:
Joel Pineiro: L (14-10), 7 IP, 5 H, ER, 2 BB, 7 K
Albert Pujols: 0-4, 2 K, 2 errors

Notable Stat:
First time in Pujols' career that he went hitless and had two errors in the same game.

Next Game:
9/12: @ Cardinals, 4:10 (Tim Hudson vs. Kyle Lohse)