​ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jimmy Crooks hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves early Saturday after a rain delay that stretched to 2 hours and 44 minutes. Crooks, who came in as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning, delivered his second home run of the season off Danny Young, 405 feet into the right-center field bleachers to break a 1-1 tie.
JoJo Romero worked a clean eighth inning for the Cardinals, and Riley O’Brien closed out the ninth to notch his 23rd save of the season. In the sixth, Jordan Walker delivered an RBI single to right off Didier Fuentes, scoring JJ Wetherholt and giving St. Louis a 1-0 advantage.
The Braves managed to grab the lead in the fifth when Mike Yastrzemski lined a double down the right-field line off George Soriano and scored on Austin Riley’s single up the middle to put Atlanta ahead 1-0.
Before the delay, Ozzie Albies faced a 1-2 count when play was halted at 8:02 p.m. in the top of the fourth due to the heavy downpour that flooded the dugouts and the field. George Soriano then came on in relief of Kyle Leahy after the rain delay and struck out Albies.
Braves starter Chris Sale had five strikeouts through three scoreless innings before the stoppage. In a notable milestone, Braves first baseman Matt Olson appeared in his 741st consecutive game, surpassing Dale Murphy’s Braves franchise record set in 1986.
Looking ahead, Braves right-hander Reynaldo López (4-1, 3.18 ERA) was scheduled to face Cardinals left-hander Matthew Liberatore (4-6, 5.34) on Saturday night.