ATLANTA • Against the first batter of his first inning, Adam Wainwright watched a well-placed ground ball become an infield single - compounded by a throwing error from his shortstop and another by his first baseman.
When the madness finally stopped, Atlanta Braves second baseman Omar Infante stood at third base and the Cardinals' starter paced behind the mound with his arms raised as if asking for a do-over or a timeout.
Recalled Wainwright, "I was just saying, ‘Please, don't throw it again.' "
The next batter, rookie right fielder Jason Heyward, drove in the run and the Braves led.
Three hitters later, first baseman Derrek Lee hit his first home run with his new team and the lead stood at three runs.
Then the remarkable happened. Rather than stay down and curl up around another muted loss, the Cardinals recovered behind Wainwright's resilience and their most determined offensive showing in more than a month to secure a 11-4 win before a subdued Turner Field crowd of 20,776.
"It was just a really, really ugly start," said shortstop Brendan Ryan, who contributed the game-tying hit within a five-run second inning. "But we got back in the dugout, turned the page and it was all about hitting."
Who knows where, if anyplace, Thursday's turnaround may take them? This much is certain: A team that was given last rites a week ago finds itself five games behind the now-reeling Cincinnati Reds and 51/2 games behind the wild card-leading Atlanta Braves.
"We have to win. That's the bottom line," summarized second baseman Skip Schumaker, who followed Ryan's second-inning single with a two-run home run to right-center field. "They're still five games ahead. That's still quite a distance. As many wins as we can accumulate, the better.
"It's nice when they lose. They have to lose. But if we don't win it doesn't even matter."
Asked if the win might lead to more than one win, manager Tony La Russa deadpanned. "I think it's one game. We've got a lefthander (Mike Minor) going against us tomorrow. We haven't seen him before. We've got everything going against us."
The Cardinals reversed all sorts of negative momentum by scoring 11 consecutive runs and slugging four home runs within a 15-hit attack.
A focal point for intrigue four days before, center fielder Colby Rasmus delivered two home runs on a four-hit night before a cluster of family and friends, as he was playing about 90 miles from his parents' Phenix City, Ala., home. If last weekend's report of Rasmus' 2-month-old trade request made life appear complex, the game seemed simple Thursday.
"I'm just going out there playing the game, not worrying about anything," he said.
Wainwright (18-10) halted his unprecedented run of four losses in four starts by following his troubled first inning with seven scoreless frames. He faced eight hitters to get his first three outs, 21 to get his next 21.
Wainwright also kept a promise he made after his previous start, a loss Saturday to the Reds in which he lasted just five innings. At his locker afterward, Wainwright vowed not to lose again this season.
"There may be a game when I go out and I give up one run and lose. I thought it was time for me to make that statement to myself for the good of the season," he said. "I've had a good season. I'm not going to let four starts in a row ruin the body of work that I've put together. Sometimes you've got to get ticked off at yourself and make statements like that to tell yourself this is real. This is not just a game for me. I take this seriously. It's a job."
Held to four runs or fewer in nine of their previous 10 games, the Cardinals used a five-run second inning against stunned Braves starter Jair Jurrjens (7-5) to ignite a string of 11 consecutive runs and a raid on the home bullpen. The Cardinals had batted a meager .197 during their previous 12 games - none of which included 10 hits. They needed just 31/3 innings to reach double-digit safeties as Albert Pujols' 37th home run chased Jurrjens with the Cardinals ahead, 7-3.
At the end, Wainwright no longer sought a timeout. Speaking of what happened after the opening troubles, he explained, "They put me on their shoulders and carried me the whole way."
Rasmus' coming-home saw him reach base in each of five plate appearances, starting with a second-inning single, extending to a home run to begin the fifth inning and including a two-run single that pushed the Cardinals' lead to seven runs in the sixth inning.
Rasmus capped the second multi-homer game of his career with one out in the ninth inning. He matched career highs with four hits and four RBIs. Rasmus appears to have found the rhythm and plate discipline that has typified his most productive tears. He is seven-for-14 on the trip and appears an obvious candidate to hold down the No. 5 spot in the order that has so confounded the club for much of the past six weeks.
"Everybody is going to be pumped. I love to come play here," Rasmus said after hitting home runs No. 20 and 21. "I get to see people I haven't seen for seven months. They get to see my little baby and things like that. It's always fun to come down here."
Every Cardinal position player managed at least one hit and all scored except left fielder Matt Holliday, who was ejected for arguing a fourth-inning third strike. The 10 runs were only one fewer than they scored during their just-completed three-game series in Milwaukee and two more than they managed while taking last weekend's series from the Reds.
The Cardinals improved to 5-0 this season against the Braves while Wainwright improved his career mark to 6-0 in as many starts against the team that sent him west in a trade December 2003 for outfielder J.D. Drew.
As further illustration of the bizarre nature of their two-sided season, the Cardinals improved to 22-11 against the four teams that would make the postseason if the schedule ended Thursday night.
"It doesn't matter what Cincinnati is doing. We need to take care of business. These guys are in the wild card, too," Pujols said.
The Cardinals have gone 4-3 since tumbling eight games behind the Reds in the National League Central. The Reds' week-long stumble, which included a blown five-run lead Thursday, has permitted the defending division champs to shave three games off Cincinnati's division lead. A team that has flailed for offensive traction may finally have found some.
Pujols drove his second home run in as many nights and has five hits on the road trip. Schumaker and Ryan enjoyed their first multi-hit, multi-RBI games this season. Ryan's two-out, two-run single in the second forced a tie immediately before Schumaker's blast put the Cardinals ahead for good.
"It was about time our offense picked up one of our pitchers," Schumaker said.
