Cardinals advance with win against Braves

• Cardinals advance to NLDS with win
• Game was delayed by 15 minutes after questionable call
• Chipper Jones played in the final game of his career

ATLANTA -- It was tumultuous and exhausting. What did you expect from wild card vs. wild card, except something wild?

The St. Louis Cardinals resumed their preposterous ways in the postseason with a 6-3 victory in their loser-goes-home matchup against the Atlanta Braves, but not before the home fans, accused for years of being too sedate, erupted in disgust over an infield fly call by umpires in the bottom of the eighth inning that helped end and Atlanta rally.

"I figured it was an infield fly," Cardinals shortstop Pete Kozma said. "It was a pop fly, two runners on like that. It was the right call."

The Cardinals turned the event completely upside down and inside out. They ruined the going-away party for Braves hero Chipper Jones, who closed a 19-year major league career. St. Louis was the first team to beat Atlanta in 24 games when pitcher Kris Medlen started for the Braves.

It was a cruel exit for Jones, whose throwing error in the fourth inning opened the door for a three-run inning by the Cardinals. Jones, a career .303 hitter, went 1-for-5 in his final game.

"Ultimately, I feel I'm the one to blame," Jones said of his error. "That should have been a tailor-made double play."

Jones was at the plate with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as flashes from cameras went off in the standing-room-only crowd of 52,631. He was down to his last strike when he broke his bat while hitting a ball deep behind the mound, and Jones barely beat the throw for an infield single in the final at-bat of his career.

Freddie Freeman hit a ground-rule double and Dan Uggla came up as the tying run, but he grounded out to end the Chipper Jones Era in Atlanta.

St. Louis advances to the best-of-five National League Division Series against the Washington Nationals, which starts Sunday in St. Louis.

Matt Holliday homered for the Cardinals and Kyle Lohse pitched 5 2/3 innings for the win, but the rest of what happened here takes a lot more explaining.

The Cardinals scored six runs on six hits because the Braves, the best fielding team in the National League in the regular season, committed three errors. Four runs were unearned.

"If you are into a playoff game, any playoff game, and you make three errors, it's going to be really hard for you to win that ball game," said Braves catcher David Ross. "Plain and simple."

Medlen, who was 10-1 with a 1.57 ERA in the regular season, pitched 6 1/3 innings and gave up three hits and just two earned runs.

Atlanta had 12 hits, but scored three runs and left three runners on base. The St. Louis bullpen, a first-half issue for the Cardinals, calmed the Braves' attempt at several rallies and got some help in a raucous eighth inning.

With runners on first and second and the Braves down 6-3, Atlanta shortstop Andrelton Simmons was called out by the infield fly rule on a ball he hit 65 feet into the outfield. As soon as Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez got back to the dugout from arguing the call and Simmons was moved off first base, the crowd exploded in a frenzy of boos. Cardinals third baseman David Freese sprinted for the dugout to escape the torrent of blue beer cans flying from the stands.

The umpires gathered behind the pitcher's mound and a water bottle, apparently still half full, came skipping across the diamond.

During the play, Kozma went back on the ball, then stopped as left fielder Holliday came charging. Left field umpire Sam Holbrook called the infield fly rule and third base umpire Jeff Nelson jerked his thumb in the air, too. The rule is designed to thwart a defense that allows a ball to drop purposely to force out an advancing runner.

Instead of having the bases loaded and one out, the Braves had runners at second and third with two out.

"I was stunned," said Simmons. "I couldn't understand the call. I didn't know what happened. The umpire was telling me I was out at first and I was saying, for what reason? It was a fly ball in the outfield. I've seen a shallow infield fly, but not that deep. I don't think anybody has seen that before."

For an inning and two thirds, the game seemed easily discernible: Two aces baffling hitters with their best pitches. Medlen was dealing with his two-seam fastball and an effective changeup, and Lohse was carving up the Braves with his sinker and struck out four of the first five.

Then, just like that, the game became electrified.

Gonzalez protested the game, but Major League Baseball executive Joe Torre said the Braves' protest was denied.

There were two outs in the top of the second inning when Uggla walked. Ross came up and faced a 1-2 count count, then swung and missed for strike three.

Or did he? Ross did not appear to raise his right hand to ask for a timeout from home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg, but apparently he made a verbal plea. Kellogg's arm shot up as Lohse was coming to the plate and the pitch didn't count.

Lohse then fired a fastball and Ross launched it over the left-center field fence and the crowd roared over Atlanta's 2-0 lead.

The euphoria did not last. Carlos Beltran singled to lead off the fourth. Matt Holliday followed and hit a one-hop rocket to Jones that appeared to be a double-play ball, but Jones threw it into right field and the Cardinals had runners on first and third.

Allen Craig followed and walloped a ball off the left-field wall to score Beltran and make it 2-1 with no outs. Yadier Molina hit a ground ball to second base for an RBI to make it 2-2, and Holliday moved to third. Freese hit a sacrifice fly, and St. Louis had a 3-2 lead.

The game took another zany turn in the bottom of the fourth inning. Freddie Freeman walked and, after Uggla grounded out moving Freeman to third, Ross bunted past the pitcher and the Braves had runners at first and third.

Simmons, the No. 8 hitter, bunted with one out and catcher Molina fielded the ball and threw it toward first base. It struck Simmons in the back of the head and careened down the right-field line as the crowd erupted in cheers as Freeman and Ross appeared to score.

But Kellogg, regarded as one of the game's fairest umpires, called Simmons out because he had veered into the infield grass and was out of the baseline. Medlen then struck out and the threat was extinguished.