Sheffield thrills fans, chills Cards in Braves' home win

ATLANTA -- Gary Sheffield gave all of his fans something to cheer about, although eight in particular seemed to get the most out of it.

Sheffield homered, doubled and drove in three runs to the delight of his own rooting section in right field as the Atlanta Braves beat the Cardinals 5-3 Tuesday night.

For the first time this season, eight fans in the upper deck unfurled a banner that read "Sheff's Chefs." All donned chef costumes, including the hats, and praised Sheffield throughout the game. One of them, 27-year-old Holly Stephens, actually is a chef of sorts, running the kitchen at an Italian restaurant in suburban Atlanta.

As Sheffield was rounding the bases after his solo home run in the fifth, the group responded with "we're not worthy" bows.

"Hopefully, they continue to stay out there and I continue to do what I did," Sheffield said. "I was thankful that I had a fan base out there that roots you on. It kind of pumps you up a little bit."

Organizer Eric Benson, 24, said he and others would be back every Tuesday, taking advantage of a special "Two for Tuesday" promotion to get two tickets for the price of one.

Russ Ortiz won for the first time in three starts for the Braves (11-9), who have won seven of eight and are two games over .500 for the first time this season.

"Sometimes you get in a situation where you try to make a better pitch than you're capable of," Ortiz said. "I just tried to make sure I made my pitches. I was just working on keeping the ball down, mixing my speeds and location, keeping them off balance as much as possible."

The Cardinals have lost three in a row.

"Neither team had a really big offensive day," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. "Sheffield got a couple of mistakes to hit, and he didn't miss them. That's what good hitters do."

Ortiz (2-2) gave up five hits and two runs in 6 1-3 innings. He struck out seven, but left in the seventh after allowing a home run to Tino Martinez and a single to J.D. Drew.

Right-hander Kevin Gryboski got Mike Matheny to ground into a double play to end the inning. John Smoltz got four outs for his seventh save in as many tries this season and 23rd in a row dating to last year.

The Cardinals got an unearned run off Roberto Hernandez in the eighth after a two-base error by center fielder Andruw Jones, who misplayed a single by Fernando Vina.

Vina scored on a groundout by Orlando Palmeiro and, after Edgar Renteria singled, Smoltz came in and struck out Jim Edmonds on three pitches to end the threat.

"Babe Ruth would have had a hard time with those pitches," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox quipped.

Atlanta scored three runs in the third to take a 4-1 lead. Rafael Furcal singled and moved to second on a walk by Marcus Giles, and both scored on the double by Sheffield. He lined a pitch from Garrett Stephenson (1-2) down the third-base line past a diving Scott Rolen.

After Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones flied out, Sheffield scored on a single by Julio Franco.

"The guys were out there for me, so I've just got to drive them in," Sheffield said. "When we do that, our pitchers bear down and throw strikes. In a one-run game, they have to be conservative in the strike zone, but they were able to be aggressive."

Sheffield made it 4-1 with his homer in the fifth, a liner to center field that barely cleared the wall. The Braves added a run in the sixth when Vinny Castilla doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Giles.

"It was pretty much a struggle," Stephenson said. "It was all my fault. I tried to adjust, but obviously, the adjustments weren't enough."

Notes: Atlanta C Johnny Estrada, called up from Triple-A Richmond on Saturday, got his first hit of the season in the second inning. He hit a sharp grounder that ricocheted off the left leg of Stephenson. ... Rolen is hitless in his past 16 at-bats. ... Former Braves owner Ted Turner had a seat in the first row by the team's dugout.