SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. (Interstat) — Jordan Walker homered and drove in four runs, Nathan Church added a two-run homer and the St. Louis Cardinals erupted for seven runs in the seventh inning to beat the Atlanta Braves 11-5 on Thursday night at Truist Park.

The Cardinals trailed 5-3 entering the seventh before sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring seven times on six hits, including Church’s tiebreaking home run. St. Louis improved to 45-39 and split the three-game series with Atlanta, which dropped to 50-35.

Atlanta had taken the lead in the first inning, scoring five runs off Cardinals starter Dustin May. The Braves strung together four hits, two walks and a hit batter in the frame. Mauricio Dubón singled in the first run. Dominic Smith cleared the bases with a double to left-center that made it 4-1. Austin Riley singled and Mike Yastrzemski added a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 5-1.

St. Louis had scored three runs in the top of the first against Braves starter Hurston Waldrep. After back-to-back singles and a hit batter, Walker launched a three-run homer to left-center, his 19th of the season, tying the game at 3-3. The Braves answered immediately in the bottom half.

The game then settled into a pitchers’ duel for the next five innings. St. Louis put a runner on second in the fourth but could not score. Atlanta also had a scoring chance in the fourth when Yastrzemski bunted for a single and later advanced to second, but the threat ended on a lineout and a flyout.

The Cardinals’ bullpen kept the Braves scoreless after the first. Justin Bruihl worked 2 2/3 innings of one-hit relief with two strikeouts. Ryan Fernandez followed with 1 2/3 innings, allowing one hit and striking out one. Gordon Graceffo pitched a perfect seventh inning with two strikeouts and earned the win, improving to 6-1. JoJo Romero worked a scoreless eighth with one hit and one strikeout. Matt Svanson closed the game with a perfect ninth, striking out two.

St. Louis’ seven-run seventh began with Masyn Winn’s single off Braves reliever Tyler Kinley. Church then drilled his seventh homer of the season to right-center, tying the game at 5-5. After a walk to Blaze Jordan, José Fermín singled, putting runners on first and second. JJ Wetherholt singled to load the bases, and Iván Herrera singled to give the Cardinals a 6-5 lead. Alec Burleson reached on a fielder’s choice that erased Herrera at third, but Walker singled to left to score Wetherholt and make it 7-5. Lars Nootbaar doubled to right, scoring Burleson and sending Walker to third. Winn then reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring Walker, and Nootbaar advanced to third. Church grounded into a double play to end the inning, but St. Louis had scored seven times and taken an 11-5 lead.

The Cardinals added a run in the ninth on a solo homer by Burleson, his 14th, off Braves reliever James Karinchak.

Atlanta had eight hits in the game, led by Smith’s double and two RBIs. Dubón had two hits and an RBI. Riley singled, and Yastrzemski and Drake Baldwin each had a hit.

The Braves’ bullpen could not contain the Cardinals’ offense after Waldrep left. Waldrep allowed three runs on five hits in six innings, striking out three and walking one. Kinley took the loss, falling to 4-3, after allowing four runs on four hits without recording an out in the seventh.

St. Louis grounded into four double plays, which prevented the Cardinals from scoring even more runs. The Cardinals finished with 15 hits, with Walker (2-for-4, home run, four RBIs), Wetherholt (2-for-5, RBI), Nootbaar (2-for-5, double, RBI) and Winn (3-for-5, two runs) leading the way.

The series opened Tuesday with St. Louis winning 5-3, but the Braves rebounded Wednesday with a 5-1 victory. The rubber match Thursday saw the Cardinals’ big inning decide the outcome.

Attendance was 34,524. The game lasted 2 hours, 59 minutes.

St. Louis next plays a three-game series at the Chicago Cubs starting Friday. Atlanta returns home to host the New York Mets for a four-game series beginning Friday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of St. Louis Cardinals 4, Atlanta Braves 3. Interstat’s ELO system had projected Atlanta with a 58.30 percent probability to win. Atlanta was installed as a pregame favorite with a spread of minus-1.5. The total score of 16 went under the over/under line of 8.5.