FOUR-OUT SAVE

Rookie Chris Perez gained his fifth save — and third of more than three outs — when he set down the final four hitters he faced Sunday. "I've thrown twice in the last nine days, so I'm definitely fresh," he said.

"It went through my mind that if a guy got on base in the eighth (Atlanta had one hit in the inning), I could be in there. And then they called down and told me to get ready."

Just before he spoke to a reporter, Perez was getting some inside baseball counseling from veteran Russ Springer, who was more than happy to give it.

"He and (Kyle) McClellan both want to talk pitching, and they want to learn," said the 39-year-old Springer. "If they didn't come to me and want to learn, I'm not going to go push it on them.

"They know there's a difference between pitching here and in the minor leagues, and they want to learn. I've been on teams where young guys come up and think they're going to come in and dominate and not have to do anything different. It usually takes them a couple of trips to the minor leagues before they figure out they need to come up and learn something."

(stltoday.com)