Given successful returns by Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, the Cardinals hope to wallow in a surplus of starting pitching early next month.
That would be a good situation for a playoff contender.
It may be a sticky one for Joel Pineiro, who may have put himself on notice Thursday night at Turner Field.
Given two early leads against a reeling team, Pineiro lost both in what became a 9-4 loss to the Braves.
Pineiro made his 18th start Thursday.
He has led at some point in 16. He has won three.
True, Pineiro (3-5) has made eight quality starts and received the win in only two, one of them a 2-0 combo shutout July 8 over the Philadelphia Phillies.
If he were a running back, Pineiro might be called “a fumbler.”
But since he is a Cardinals starting pitcher with more help potentially on the way, Pineiro simply needs to reverse his recent form.
Poised for their first four-game sweep of a Braves team since 1946, the Cardinals settled for a 4-3 trip.
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EDITED BY BOB FOLTMAN AND THOMAS L. OUTLAW
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