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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ATLANTA (AP) -- Will Clark doesn't know why he hits so well
against the Atlanta Braves. He's just glad he does.
Clark homered twice and Garrett Stephenson scattered seven hits
over 6 2/3 innings as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta
Braves 6-3 Saturday night.
|  | | Will Clark hits his second home run off Kevin Millwood. Clark also doubled and finished 3-for-4 with three RBI. |
"I think when you face guys who are some of the better guys in
the league, you should get motivated," Clark said. "You know when
you face an Atlanta staff, you have to execute. If you don't
execute, you're going to go home not only with a lot of 0-fers but
losses."
Clark, acquired in a July 31 trade with Baltimore, has seven
homers with St. Louis -- five coming against the Braves -- and 16
this season.
He led off the second with a homer to make it 1-0, added an RBI
double in the third and another solo shot in the fifth as St. Louis
broke out to a 5-0 lead. Clark, who has 10 hits in his last 16
at-bats, has 13 multihomer games in his career.
Stephenson (15-7) did not allow a run until Rafael Furcal's
sacrifice fly in the seventh. He was replaced by Matt Morris with
two outs in the seventh and the bases loaded.
"When he tried to make a pitch most of the game, the pitch was
there," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "When he tried to
make a pitch that inning, most of the times it wasn't there. He was
missing his location."
Morris needed just two pitches to get Chipper Jones to fly out
to end the threat.
St. Louis, which has won eight of 11 games, will try Sunday to
win its first season series against the Braves since 1994. Each
team has three wins apiece this year.
Stephenson walked three and struck out two to move past teammate
Darryl Kile for third-most victories in the NL. Stephenson, who has
won four straight decisions, entered the season with 14 wins in
four seasons.
Stephenson pitched a five-hitter in a 5-0 victory over the Braves on Aug. 5 in St. Louis.
"My whole goal this year was, first of all, to throw 200
innings," he said. "Second of all, when I step out there every
five days I want my team to know we have a chance to win, to know
that I'm going to try and work as quick as I can so they can play
good defense behind me."
One out after Clark's first homer off Kevin Millwood (8-9), Ray
Lankford made it 2-0 with his 20th homer. Edgar Renteria followed
with a single and scored on Mike Matheny's RBI double for a 3-0 St.
Louis lead.
Millwood, who lost for the first time since July 9 at Boston,
gave up seven hits and five runs in six innings. He was 3-0 with
five no-decisions in eight starts since the Red Sox beat him 7-2.
The Braves had won Millwood's six previous starts.
"It seems like every team has somebody that gives you trouble,
and (Clark) has given me a lot of trouble," Millwood said. "He
hit two totally different pitches out of the park. I thought I made
a pretty good pitch to Lankford. The two to Clark were up."
Placido Polanco made it 6-1 in the eighth with an RBI double
against Stan Belinda.
Atlanta scored twice in the ninth on an RBI groundout by Furcal
and a run-scoring double by Andruw Jones. Dave Veres ended the game
by snaring Chipper Jones' live drive.
"It would have been interesting if Chipper's ball had gone in
there," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "We were making a game of
it there."
Game notes
In getting his first multihomer game since Aug. 28, 1998,
Clark improved his career average in five games at Turner Field to
.500 (11-for-22). ... Millwood has not been over .500 since May 23,
when he lost to Milwaukee and dropped to 4-3. ... Fernando Vina
went 0-for-4, ending a career-best 17-game hitting streak. ...
Fernando Tatis struck out four times, three against Millwood.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
St. Louis Clubhouse
Atlanta Clubhouse
Not in the Cards? Hurting McGwire's return not imminent
RECAPS
Tampa Bay 4
Baltimore 1
Baltimore 2
Tampa Bay 0
(2nd game)
NY Yankees 10
Oakland 6
Detroit 8
Minnesota 2
Toronto 9
Texas 3
Boston 5
Kansas City 3
Seattle 11
Chi. White Sox 5
Cleveland 9
Anaheim 5
Chicago Cubs 6
Los Angeles 4
Colorado 11
Pittsburgh 4
Philadelphia 5
San Francisco 2
Cincinnati 3
Florida 2
Montreal 5
Houston 4
St. Louis 6
Atlanta 3
Arizona 5
NY Mets 1
Milwaukee 6
San Diego 5
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