Kawakami Shouritoushu!: Kenshin Wins In Major League Debut

ATLANTA 5, WASHINGTON 3

Kenshin Kawakami had a successful major league debut and the Atlanta Braves came from behind to beat the Washington Nationals 5-3.

The Braves' first Japanese player in the major leagues, Kawakami logged six innings, allowing three runs on an RBI single by Nick Johnson in the first and a two-run homer by Ryan Zimmerman in the third. He didn't allow any hits after the third inning and he struck out eight Washington batters. He also walked four batters.

Kelly Johnson led off the bottom of the third with a solo shot to center off Nationals starter John Lannan to cut the gap to 3-1. In the bottom of the fourth, Matt Diaz singled, then Casey Kotchman grounded into a fielder's choice to erase Diaz. Jordan Schafer doubled into the right field corner to move Kotchman to third. After Kawakami grounded out to short, Kelly Johnson rapped a single to center and stretched it into a double when Willie Harris didn't cover second base. Both Kotchman and Schafer scored on the play.

Yunel Escobar hit a hard grounder that Harris knocked down, but couldn't make any play, and then Chipper Jones knocked in Johnson with a single to give the Braves the lead.

Kawakami kept the lead through the sixth inning, retiring the last eight Washington batters he faced. Peter Moylan entered in the seventh inning and struck out the side, lowering his ERA from infinity to 45.00. Rafael Soriano allowed a leadoff double to Cristian Guzman, but he then struck out Ryan Zimmerman. Adam Dunn then walked, but Nick Johnson hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

The Braves added an insurance run in the eighth with a two-out single by Yunel Escobar. Yunel also had two walks in the game. Jordan Schafer had two doubles and a single.

Mike Gonzalez came on in the ninth for the save. He got Austin Kearns to ground out to short and Jesus Flores to strike out swinging. Josh Willingham pinch-hit for Harris and he was rung up with a check swing to end the game.

W - Kenshin Kawakami (1-0)
L - John Lannan (0-2)
S - Mike Gonzalez (1)
HR - WAS - Ryan Zimmerman (1)
ATL - Kelly Johnson (2)

THREE STARS

GOLD
2B Kelly Johnson, Atlanta - 3-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI

SILVER
P Kenshin Kawakami, Atlanta - 6 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 8 SO

BRONZE
CF Jordan Schafer, Atlanta - 3-4, 2 2B, 2 R

AP Photo by John Amis

EDIT: Changed boxscore link to Baseball-Reference.com

Seesaw Battle With Nats Ends With Braves Up

ATLANTA 6, WASHINGTON 5 (10 INN.)

A game that saw a two-hour rain delay and three blown leads total by both teams ended with the Braves winning in ten by a score of 6-5.

Derek Lowe started for Atlanta and allowed one run through three innings, striking out six. Shairon Martis made his sixth career start for Washington, going three innings. He allowed a three-run shot to Yunel Escobar in the third inning to give the Braves a 3-1 lead.

A rain delay of two hours and two minutes stopped the game in the top of the fourth. Buddy Carlyle took Lowe's place after the delay and Wil Ledezma pitched for the Nationals.

The Braves added another run with Brian McCann's sacrifice fly in the fifth, bringing the score to 4-1. However, the Nationals rocked Buddy Carlyle, Peter Moylan and Eric O'Flaherty for three runs to tie the game. Moylan gave up an RBI double to Ryan Zimmerman and O'Flaherty gave up a single to Adam Dunn that tied the game.

The Braves went back ahead on an RBI single by Jeff Francoeur in the 7th and Rafael Soriano had a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth. The Braves didn't score in the eighth, so Mike Gonzalez came in to attempt his first save of the year. Nick Johnson led off with a liner that Matt Diaz lost in the lights for a double. Elijah Dukes singled and that moved Johnson to third. Jesus Flores flied out to shallow right for the first out and Alex Gonzalez walked to load the bases. Pinch-hitter Wil Nieves struck out, then Lastings Milledge hit a liner that Gonzalez tried to spear, but it bounced off of his glove into foul territory, scoring a run. Braves announcer Jim Powell said in the radio broadcast that if Gonzalez had never touched the ball, the game would have more than likely been over because Escobar was in position to make a play. Cristian Guzman struck out, but the Nationals had successfully made Gonzalez blow his first save chance of the year.

The Braves didn't score in the bottom of the ninth, so the game went into extra innings. Jorge Campillo did a better job in his second outing, giving up only one walk to Adam Dunn. In the bottom of the tenth, Jordan Schafer led off with a single, then went to second on a groundout to third by Omar Infante. Infante had tried to bunt, but couldn't get one down so he had to swing with two strikes. Kelly Johnson then lofted a 1-2 pitch into right field and the speedy Schafer slid home well in front of the throw, giving Atlanta the victory.

W - Jorge Campillo (1-0)
L - Joe Beimel (0-1)
HR - Yunel Escobar (1)

THREE STARS

GOLD
2B Kelly Johnson, Atlanta - 3-5, 2B, GW 1B, R, RBI

SILVER
SS Yunel Escobar, Atlanta - 3-5, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI

BRONZE
LF Adam Dunn, Washington - 1-3, GT 1B, 3 BB, RBI

HONORABLE MENTION
C Brian McCann - 3-4, 3 2B, R, RBI

AP Photo by John Amis

EDIT: Added photo credit, W-L-S-HR tally, and changed boxscore link to Baseball-Reference.com's boxscore.

Braves Staff Holds Phillies Off The Board, Hit Two Homers In Win

ATLANTA 4, PHILADELPHIA 0

Jair Jurrjens pitched 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball and the Braves pen finished putting up the zeroes in the 4-0 victory.

Kelly Johnson hit the first pitch into the right field seats for the Braves' first score. After Yunel Escobar grounded out, Chipper Jones hit a long double that hit off the center field wall. He came around to score on a rare error by Chase Utley. Brian McCann's grounder went under Utley's glove and into right field. Jones came around to score on that.

The Braves added another run in the fourth. Jeff Francoeur led off with a single and Casey Kotchman's single moved him to third. After Jordan Schafer popped up to short and Jair Jurrjens struck out, Kelly Johnson hit a slow bouncer to short and beat Rollins's throw to the bag, scoring Francoeur.

Jones led off the fifth inning with a solo home run to cap the Braves' scoring off of Phillie starter Jamie Moyer. After the fifth inning, four Phillies relievers, including fifth starter Chan Ho Park, combined to retire twelve straight Braves batters.

The Braves bullpen was similarly effective. Jurrjens left the game after walking Pedro Feliz with two out in the inning. Jeff Bennett came on to face Carlos Ruiz, but gave up a single to left. Matt Stairs was called on to pinch-hit, so Bobby Cox went with new lefty Eric O'Flaherty. Stairs launched a full-count pitch to right-center, but the hard wind, blowing out to right field, held it in the park for Jordan Schafer.

O'Flaherty pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless ball and Rafael Soriano pitched around a two-out walk to Feliz. Mike Gonzalez, who pitched in the opener, got Eric Bruntlett to line out to left field, where Garret Anderson made up for a misplay in the second inning (a liner by Raul Ibanez popped out of his glove and he couldn't corral it) by tracking down deep liners from Eric Bruntlett and Jimmy Rollins. Shane Victorino hit a fly ball to center that Schafer caught easily, completing the shutout.

W - Jair Jurrjens (1-0)
L - Jamie Moyer (0-1)
HR - Kelly Johnson (1)
Chipper Jones (1)

THREE STARS

GOLD
P Jair Jurrjens, Atlanta - 5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K

SILVER
2B Kelly Johnson, Atlanta - 2-5, HR, R, 2 RBI

BRONZE
3B Chipper Jones, Atlanta - 2-4, 2B, HR, 2 R, RBI

AP Photo By John Amis

EDIT: Added photo credit and changed boxscore to Baseball-Reference.com's boxscore and play-by-play.