<p>Matt Morris pitched eight solid innings, helping the St. Louis Cardinals win their third straight with a 5-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night.</p><p>So Taguchi and Jim Edmonds homered and Edgar Renteria had two hits and two RBIs for the Cardinals, who won the opener 5-1. They have won three in a row for the first time since April 20-22, when they swept the Astros in Houston.</p><p>Morris (4-3) kept the Braves off-balance with an assortment of mostly offspeed pitches, allowing two runs on six hits with five strikeouts and one walk. He beat the Braves for the first time in eight career starts after entering 0-5 with a 3.44 ERA against them.</p><p>Jason Isringhausen worked the ninth for his sixth save in seven chances.</p><p>Atlanta got a two-run home run from J.D. Drew, but the Braves have lost six of seven and totaled 15 runs in that span. They have 11 hits in the first two games of the series.</p><p>The loss ensured the Braves of losing five series in a row for the first time since Aug. 8-24, 1988. The finale of the three-game series is Thursday.</p><p>Back-to-back two-out infield hits by Reggie Sanders and Albert Pujols and a walk to Scott Rolen set up Renteria's two-run single off Mike Hampton (0-4) in the third.</p><p>Taguchi led off the fourth with his first homer of the season.</p><p>A pair of unique doubles led to another run that made it 4-0 in the fifth. With two outs, Renteria doubled on weak grounder that deflected off the glove of third baseman Mark DeRosa, ranging far to his left, and then scooted past shortstop Jesse Garcia.</p><p>Drew slipped and fell on the wet turf trying to chase down Edmonds' drive near the warning track in right field and just missed making the catch while seated.</p><p>Drew hit his fifth homer after Marcus Giles singled to open the sixth. The drive to right was estimated at 436 feet, longer than any Cardinals homer this year.</p><p>Edmonds hit his eighth homer in the eighth off Chris Reitsma.</p><p>Hampton lasted six innings and allowed four runs on eight hits while remaining winless in seven starts.</p><p>Notes:@ Reggie Sanders broke his bat on a groundout in the seventh, and a piece of it glanced off the back of Braves reliever Kevin Gryboski. ... Renteria's homer was the 17th off a Braves starter. Atlanta entered with a major league-low 16 homers allowed. ... The Braves have scored 45 runs in their 18 losses, and 105 in their 14 victories. ... Cardinals starters have worked 31 innings in the last four games. ... The start of the game was delayed 27 minutes by rain.</p>
