Kareem Jackson Jersey from chenyan's blog

He kept even with cohorts by tossing five shutout innings and Freddie Freeman homered as the Atlanta Braves held off the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 on Sunday.

”It’s like a friendly competition with a fun group of guys Kareem Jackson Jersey ,” Foltynewicz said. ”It’s a good vibe.”

The Braves outscored St. Louis 22-10 in sweeping a three-game series in St. Louis for the first time since May 11-13, 2012.

Tommy Pham homered for St. Louis, which has lost four in a row. The Cardinals scored five times in the seventh to rally from a 6-0 deficit.

Foltynewicz matched Julio Teheran and Max Fried to post the Braves third successive scoreless appearance by a starter. Teheran tossed six scoreless innings a 5-1 win on Friday. Fried did not allow a run in 6 2-3 innings of an 11-4 victory on Saturday.

”They’ve been awesome,” said Atlanta infielder Charlie Culberson, who had two hits and drove in two runs on Sunday, ”It makes it easier for us (hitters). A little bit more relaxed for us going up there.”

Foltynewicz (6-4) surrendered one hit – a fourth-inning single to Marcell Ozuna. He struck out nine and walked three in an 86-pitch outing.

”He never gave in, he kept grinding,” manager Brian Snitker said.

Foltynewicz has allowed just two hits and one run over 10 innings in two outings since coming off the disabled list with tightness in his right tricepts on June 25.

”He was kind of wildly effective,” St. Louis infielder Kolten Wong said. ”When you’re throwing as hard as he was DJ Moore Jersey , it makes it tough.”

The Braves three starters allowed seven hits over 17 2-3 innings with 24 strikeouts in the series.

”We’ve been feeding off each other,” Foltynewicz said. ”We’re always pulling for each other, pushing each other, asking questions. We hang around together and you can see that we take it out to the mound. It’s been a really fun time.”

A.J. Minter picked up his third save in as many tries by setting the side down in order in the ninth. He has not allowed a run in his last seven appearances.

Freeman’s 16th homer of the season, a two-run drive, pushed the lead to 3-0 in sixth. The blow highlighted a five-run uprising that also included a run-scoring hit from Culberson.

Pham hit a three-run homer off Peter Moylan in the seventh to bring the Cardinals to within 6-5.

St. Louis starter John Gant (2-3) allowed four runs on four hits over 5 1-3 innings.

”I’ve definitely got to do better,” Gant said. ”Came out on the losing end, so anytime that happens, improvements need to be made.”

Francisco Pena had a two-run single in the seventh for St. Louis Tyron Smith Jersey , which will play 17 of its next 20 games on the road.

The Braves have been in first place or tied for first in 60 of the last 62 days. They kicked off their 10-game road trip in style.

”To come out and win the first three games, that’s really nice,” Culberson said. ”But this series is done. We took care of business. Time to move on.”

Atlanta infielder Ozzie Albies extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a sixth-inning single.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Braves: C Tyler Flowers returned to the starting lineup after missing Saturday’s game. He suffered a muscle cramp in the sixth inning of Friday’s 5-1 win.

Cardinals: RHP Luke Gregerson began a rehab stint with Triple-A Memphis on Sunday. He did not allow a hit over one inning. Gregerson was placed on the 10-day disabled list with shoulder impingement on May 16.

UP NEXT

Braves RHP Anibal Sanchez (3-2, 2.68) will face RHP Jonathan Loaisiga (2-0, 1.93) in the first of a three-game series against the Yankees in New York. Sanchez is 4-1 in six lifetime starts against the Yankees.

Cardinals: RHP Carlos Martinez (4-4, 3.22) takes on Arizona LHP Robbie Ray (3-0, 4.01) in the opener of a three-game series in Arizona that kicks off a nine-game road trip. Martinez is 2-0 in three starts at Chase Field.

James Harden had 25 points and 12 assists to lead Houston to a 113-92 win over Utah in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinals series on Friday night.

Eric Gordon added 25 points and Chris Paul had 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the Rockets. Houston beat Utah in Salt Lake City for the third time this season to take a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 is on Sunday.

The Rockets attacked the Jazz everywhere en route to rolling up 70 points before halftime. When Utah drove Houston off the perimeter Ryan Hewitt Jersey , it yielded repeated slashes to the rim for layups. When the Jazz dropped back in to shore up the interior, the Rockets came up with well-timed 3-pointers to keep the heat on.

”We’re just not going to force anything,” Harden said. ”Whatever they give us, we’re going to take and we’re going to have confidence in our guys and we’re going to make shots.

Royce O’ Neale scored 17 points. Alec Burks chipped in 14 points while Rudy Gobert added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Jazz.

Utah never got on track on offense. The Jazz shot poorly over the first three quarters and committed 16 turnovers. Houston scored 19 points off those miscues.

”I thought our defense was superb,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said. ”We were hitting shots all over the place. We just got a hold of it, kept the crowd out of it and kept them on their heels. You could see the guys feeding off good defense after good defense. When you do that and your energy is right, the shots start to go down and good things happen.”

Houston could not have scripted a much better start than what the Rockets produced on Friday night.

A listless first-half effort ultimately sealed Houston’s fate in Game 2. The Rockets avoided enduring another slow start by clamping down on defense and playing efficient offense.

Houston picked apart Utah’s defense practically from the opening tip. The Rockets opened the game by scoring baskets on six of their first seven possessions. Harden capped the flurry with his first basket to put Houston up 15-5.

It only grew worse for the Jazz from there. The Rockets led by as many as 22 in the first quarter, taking a 37-15 lead on back-to-back baskets from Harden and Gerald Green.

Houston made 16 of its 26 shots in the first quarter and totaled 39 points in the period.

”They were focused and determined to do what they wanted to do,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. ”We just didn’t provide enough resistance in a lot of areas.”

As effective as the Rockets were on offense Graham Gano Jersey , their defense proved equally troublesome for Utah. Houston forced the Jazz to commit six turnovers before the start of the second quarter and scored nine points off those turnovers.

”They just took us out of our rhythm and we can’t let that happen,” guard Donovan Mitchell said. ”They were the aggressor all night and we got to be able to understand they’re gonna be aggressive and we’ve got to be able to counter.”

Utah cut Houston’s lead 49-34 midway through the second quarter after O’ Neale scored three straight baskets to fuel a 9-0 run. Clint Capela ended the run with a dunk and the Rockets proceeded to outscore the Jazz 31-9 over a 10 minute stretch extending into the third quarter.

They pushed their lead to 80-43 on a driving layup from Ariza with 8:01 left in the quarter.

TIP-INS:

Rockets: Gordon finished with a postseason-high in points. …Houston did not commit a turnover in the first quarter. … The Rockets outscored the Jazz 20-10 in fastbreak points after totaling just five in Game 2. … Houston finished with 50 points in the paint for the second straight game.

Jazz: Derrick Favors exited with an ankle sprain in the third quarter. Favors totaled two points, two rebounds and two assists in 13 minutes. … Houston’s 39 first quarter points is the most given up by Utah in any quarter in a playoff game this season. … Mitchell scored only 10 points after going just 4-of-16 from the field.

BACK TO FORM

Eric Gordon got his shooting groove back in Game 3. Gordon attacked the rim early and then hit several key 3-pointers as the game progressed. He ended up going 8-of-13 from the field and shooting 50 percent from the 3-point line.

It marked a big change of pace for Gordon who has struggled to find his shot at times during the postseason. Coming into Friday night, he had shot just 31.4 percent from the field and averaged 12.9 points over seven playoff games

”I just got to continue to be aggressive,” Gordon said. ”It doesn’t change for me.”