ST. LOUIS — Back after he was scratched from his last start and rain pushed his return another day, Kyle Gibson saw his and the Cardinals’ undefeated streak end at the hands of the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday.

Gibson gave up four runs over four innings and walked five batters as the losing pitcher in a 6-2 Cardinals loss to the Braves at Busch Stadium. The losing decision was Gibson’s first since April 19 after he went 11 starts without earning a loss. Gibson (5-3) had not pitched since June 14 after back tightness during his warmup before a scheduled start on June 19 in Miami held him out of the ballgame.

Entering Wednesday, Gibson maintained a 2.64 ERA over 64 2/3 innings and had a 4-0 record since his last loss. He completed five or more innings in 10 of those 11 starts. Gibson’s four innings on Wednesday tied for his shortest start as a Cardinal. Gibson lasted four innings in a May 22 home start against the Baltimore Orioles.

The loss to Atlanta snaps St. Louis’s four-game winning streak that began on June 20 against the San Francisco Giants.

Cardinals hitters combined for four hits and drew four walks against Braves right-hander Reynaldo Lopez. Lopez came into Wednesday with a 1.57 ERA in 14 starts. He has not allowed more than two earned runs in any of his starts since April 30.

The Cardinals (40-39) are scheduled to play the second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader vs. the Braves at 6:15 p.m. local time.

Gibson labors in second, fourth frames

After needing just 10 pitches to face the minimum in his first inning of work, Gibson allowed four runs and threw 40 pitches in the second inning. The right-hander allowed three hits — all of which were singles — and walked three batters after his seamless start to Wednesday's outing.

A walk to leadoff hitter Matt Olson, a single from Austin Riley, and a walk to Sean Murphy to begin the second prompted a mound visit from Cardinals pitching coach Dusty Blake. Looking to navigate the bases-loaded situation, Gibson allowed Olson to score from third base on a groundout from Ramon Laureano, who reached first base after beating Nolan Gorman's as the Cardinals tried to turn a double play.

Gibson’s walk to Forrest Wall in the at-bat after Laureano’s loaded the base once again. Zack Short capitalized on the RBI opportunity with a single that drove in two runs. Jared Kelenic added to Atlanta’s scoring total with an RBI single after Short’s.

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