SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. (Interstat) — Matthew Liberatore rebounded from a pair of dismal outings to deliver five strong innings, and Nathan Church hit a three-run homer in a four-run fourth inning as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Atlanta Braves 5-3 on Tuesday night at Truist Park.

Liberatore, who had allowed 11 earned runs over 7 total innings in his previous two starts, limited the Braves to one hit and one earned run while striking out nine over five innings. The left-hander walked three but worked out of trouble, lowering his ERA and improving his record to 4-5. Riley O’Brien earned his 21st save with a scoreless ninth inning, striking out one while allowing one hit.

The Cardinals, now 44-38, snapped a three-game losing streak with the win. The Braves fell to 49-34, losing for the fourth time in five games.

St. Louis wasted little time putting pressure on Atlanta starter Martín Pérez, who entered with a 6-4 record. In the top of the first, JJ Wetherholt grounded out, Iván Herrera popped out and Jordan Walker walked. Nelson Velázquez singled to put runners on first and second, but José Fermín popped out to end the inning.

The Cardinals mounted no threat in the second or third innings, as Pérez retired the side in order in the second and allowed only a two-out walk to Wetherholt in the third before striking out Herrera.

Atlanta struck first in the bottom of the third. Jorge Mateo led off with a sharp line-drive single to left field. Drake Baldwin struck out, but Ozzie Albies lifted a sacrifice fly to left that scored Mateo, giving the Braves a 1-0 lead. Matt Olson struck out to end the inning.

The game turned decisively in the top of the fourth. Velázquez led off by crushing a 1-0 pitch over the center-field fence for his third home run of the season, tying the game at 1. José Fermín flied out, but Masyn Winn singled to left. Lars Nootbaar followed with a ground-ball single to right, moving Winn to second. Blaze Jordan lined out to shortstop, bringing Church to the plate.

Church, a center fielder batting .282, drove a 2-1 offering from Pérez deep to right field for his sixth homer of the year, clearing the bases and giving St. Louis a 4-1 lead. Wetherholt flied out to end the inning, but the damage was done.

Pérez recovered to pitch a scoreless fifth, but his line for the night included five hits and four earned runs over five innings, with one walk and one strikeout. He fell to 6-5.

The Cardinals added an insurance run in the top of the sixth. Winn walked to lead off, advanced to second on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by Blaze Jordan, stretching the lead to 5-1.

Atlanta began to chip away in the bottom of the seventh. After Austin Riley lined out and Joey Bart struck out, Mateo drew a walk. Drake Baldwin singled, and Albies followed with a line-drive single to center that scored Mateo, cutting the deficit to 5-2. Olson grounded out to end the threat.

The Braves closed to within two runs in the eighth. Michael Harris II struck out, but Mauricio Dubón singled. Mike Yastrzemski reached on an infield single, and after Austin Riley struck out, Rowdy Tellez drew a bases-loaded walk to force in Dubón and make it 5-3. Dominic Smith then walked to reload the bases, but Drake Baldwin grounded out to second to end the inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, O’Brien entered and retired Albies on a groundout. Olson doubled to put the tying run at the plate, but O’Brien got Harris II to ground out, moving Olson to third. Dubón grounded out to shortstop to end the game.

Velázquez finished 2 for 2 with a homer, a walk and an RBI. Church was 1 for 4 with the three-run homer. Winn scored twice. For Atlanta, Albies drove in two runs and Dubón collected two hits. The Braves managed only six hits, matching the Cardinals’ total.

St. Louis relievers combined to allow two earned runs over four innings. Ryan Fernandez pitched two-thirds of a scoreless inning, and George Soriano gave up one earned run in 1 2/3 innings. The Cardinals’ bullpen issued four walks but stranded seven Braves baserunners.

The game lasted 2 hours, 52 minutes in front of an announced crowd of 32,932.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Atlanta Braves 4, St. Louis Cardinals 3. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Atlanta with a 59.10 percent probability to win. Atlanta had been installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of -1.5. The total score of 8 went over the over/under line of 9.