Cardinals defeat Braves in controversial wild card

ATLANTA – David Freese and the St. Louis Cardinals rediscovered their postseason touch. Chipper Jones and the Braves kept throwing the ball away. And the Atlanta fans turned Turner Field into a trash heap.

They said anything could happen in baseball’s first wild-card playoff.

Boy, did it ever.

In a game protested by the Braves, Matt Holliday homered and the defending World Series champion Cardinals took advantage of three Atlanta throwing errors – the most crucial of them by the retiring Jones – to take the winner-take-all playoff 6-3 on Friday.

MLB executive Joe Torre said the protest had been denied. St. Louis advanced to face Washington in the best-of-5 division round, beginning Sunday at Busch Stadium.

Jones managed an infield hit in his final at-bat but threw away a double-play ball in the fourth, which led to a three-run inning that wiped out Atlanta’s early 2-0 lead behind Kris Medlen.

But this one-and-done game will be remembered for the eighth, when a disputed call on a fly ball that dropped in short left field cost the Braves a chance at extending Jones’ career.

The Braves thought they had the bases loaded with one out after the ball dropped between two fielders, who appeared to get mixed up over who had called for it. But left-field umpire Sam Holbrook called Andrelton Simmons out under the infield fly rule, though the ball landed at least 50 feet beyond the dirt.

When the fans realized what had happened, they littered the field with beers cups, popcorn holders and other trash, leading to a 19-minute delay.

When play finally resumed, Brian McCann walked but Michael Bourn struck out to end the threat.