Braves Weekly Wrap-up

This week for the Braves started out very well.  After losing two straight to the Red Sox to finish out the series, the Braves needed Tim Hudson to deliver a strong pitching effort against the Diamondbacks, and that is exactly what he did.  He pitched eight strong innings in which he only gave up 1 run on a solo home run off the bat of Jason Kubel.  In this game, the Braves offense also had a great game.  By game’s end, every person in the lineup had at least two hits except for the struggling Dan Uggla.  Jason Heyward and Michael Bourn continued their hot streaks by combining to go 4-9 with 2 RBI and 3 runs.  In the second game of the series with the D’Backs, Tommy Hanson delivered a strong start to follow up Hudson’s effort.  He struck out 5 over 6.1 innings and only allowed 3 runs.  The biggest blow for the Braves was delivered by Chipper Jones in the sixth inning when he belted a 2-run home run.  The game on Thursday featured the Diamondbacks’ top pitching prospect, Trevor Bauer, throwing against the Braves.  While the Braves were able to get baserunners and drive up his pitch count, they left 11 men on base while Bauer was pitching.  With the game tied 2-2 in the ninth, Craig Kimbrell gave up a solo homer to Chris Young.  The game finished with the Braves losing 3-2.

Andrelton Simmons makes an acrobatic catch against the Diamondbacks.

The weekend series was a series that the Braves needed to win against the Washington Nationals.  In the first game, they did not perform like they needed to.  After they tied the game with 4 runs in the 7^th, they had all the momentum.  However, that momentum quickly swung back to the Nationals when Michael Morse hit a solo home run leading off the eighth off of Chad Durbin, giving the Nationals a lead they would not lose.  The second game went better for the Braves.  After Mike Minor gave up two runs in the first two innings, it looked like another typical Minor start was occurring.  However, he settled in, and with the help of the Georgia heat, the Braves were able to drive Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg from the game after the third inning.  After he left the game, the Braves scored 4 more runs to finish the winning effort.  In the final game of the series on Sunday, the Braves were unable to beat the Nationals.  Hudson failed to repeat his pitching performance against the Diamondbacks, giving up five runs over 6 innings.  The Braves finished off the series by losing 8-4.  The Braves finished the series 4.5 games back of the Nationals in the NL East standings.

Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg struggles in the Atlanta Heat.