ATLANTA 4, PHILADELPHIA 1
Making a spot start for the DL'ed Jair Jurrjens, long reliever Kris Medlen pitched 4 1/3 innings of effective work and the bullpen did the rest while the Braves' offense scratched across some rare road runs to carry the team to a 4-1 win over Joe Blanton.
The Phillies scored first with three singles in the second, with Brian Schneider coming around to score on Shane Victorino's two-out single. Medlen, who had allowed two singles in the first inning, but no runs, would allow four more over 2 1/3 innings where he stranded runners on second and third on the fourth inning. After allowing a one-out single to Placido Polanco in the fourth, Cox brought in Eric O'Flaherty to pitch to Ryan Howard. The lefty specialist got the slugger to ground into a 4-5-3 double play, with Chipper Jones playing shortstop in the shift.
Joe Blanton, in the meantime, was cruising. He didn't allow a base hit until Medlen collected his first major league base hit in the fifth, a liner that third baseman Greg Dobbs couldn't spear.
The sixth is where things started to change for Blanton and the Braves. Chipper led off the inning with an infield single to second base. Brian McCann followed with a base hit and Troy Glaus lined out to center field. Eric Hinske, making his first start since the last game of the Cardinals series, got the Braves a tie game with a right field done. Melky Cabrera singled him and McCann home to give the Braves a 3-1 lead. The Braves added a fourth run in the ninth when Glaus singled home Nate McLouth off of Philadelphia reliever Danys Baez.
The Braves bullpen, six pitchers in total, combined for 5 2/3 innings of hitless baseball. No pitcher allowed any hits. Craig Kimbrel, making his second major league appearance walked two batters in the sixth and Peter Moylan bailed him out with a double play. Moylan walked two batters in the seventh himself, but got two outs and Jonny Venters came on to retire Howard.
Takashi Saito pitched a perfect eighth, striking out two batter and Billy Wagner had a 1-2-3 inning, finishing the save with Shane Victorino's liner to left that Matt Diaz was able to grab with a diving catch.
Showing posts with label eric hinske. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eric hinske. Show all posts
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Braves Back Lowe's Tightrope Act Once More, Beat Rockies
ATLANTA 9, COLORADO 5
At the end of the day, Braves veteran Derek Lowe became the second National League hurler to win three games, getting the victory in a 9-5 Braves win.
Of course, he got the victory the way he always does: pitching just good enough and getting a lot of offense behind him. The Braves blew the game open in the second inning, chasing Rockies starter Jason Hammel. Seven singles, three walks, a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly led to seven runs in the frame. The Braves added another run in the third off of Manny Corpas when Eric Hinske singled home Nate McLouth, driving in his third run of the game.
Lowe danced around a first-and-third, none out situation in the first inning by striking out Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki. Ryan Spilborghs was caught trying to steal second base by three feet.
In the fourth, after inducing a double play from Helton, Lowe gave up a single to Tulowitzki and a double to Brad Hawpe, breaking the shutout. The situation became a lot more dicey when Ian Stewart reached on an error by Hinske and Lowe walked Clint Barmes. Pinch-hitter Seth Smith launched a fly ball to deep right field. Jason Heyward, who had two singles on the day, attempted to scale the scoreboard wall and catch the ball, but it landed two rows out of his reach, making the score 8-4.
Chipper Jones was able to answer in the bottom of the frame with a two-out solo home run. His blast came after he looked silly flopping over the plate after fouling off a pitch from reliever Joe Beimel.
Lowe walked Hawpe to start the sixth, but got Chris Iannetta to ground back to him. Cox then removed him in favor of lefty Eric O'Flaherty, who worked Thursday. Lowe finished the day with seven hits and three earned runs allowed, with two walks and five strikeouts.
O'Flaherty stayed in the game, finishing the seventh inning. He allowed a run on a walk and a double, but struck out three batters. Kris Medlen finished off the game for the Braves with two very effective innings. His only hit allowed was a single to Spilborghs, and he struck out three batters.
Odds 'N Ends: Cabrera had his first multiple-hit game with the Braves, garnering two singles. The only other game where Cabrera reached base more than twice this year was the 5-4 loss to the Giants where he reached base with a double and two walks.
Martin Prado has a fourteen game hitting streak over two seasons, batting .458/.529/.644 over that span. His 19 hits in 10 games to start the season matches the club record set by Deion Sanders in 1992. Prado needs one hit to tie Neon Deion's record for 11 games and two hits to set a new one.
At the end of the day, Braves veteran Derek Lowe became the second National League hurler to win three games, getting the victory in a 9-5 Braves win.
Of course, he got the victory the way he always does: pitching just good enough and getting a lot of offense behind him. The Braves blew the game open in the second inning, chasing Rockies starter Jason Hammel. Seven singles, three walks, a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly led to seven runs in the frame. The Braves added another run in the third off of Manny Corpas when Eric Hinske singled home Nate McLouth, driving in his third run of the game.
Lowe danced around a first-and-third, none out situation in the first inning by striking out Todd Helton and Troy Tulowitzki. Ryan Spilborghs was caught trying to steal second base by three feet.
In the fourth, after inducing a double play from Helton, Lowe gave up a single to Tulowitzki and a double to Brad Hawpe, breaking the shutout. The situation became a lot more dicey when Ian Stewart reached on an error by Hinske and Lowe walked Clint Barmes. Pinch-hitter Seth Smith launched a fly ball to deep right field. Jason Heyward, who had two singles on the day, attempted to scale the scoreboard wall and catch the ball, but it landed two rows out of his reach, making the score 8-4.
Chipper Jones was able to answer in the bottom of the frame with a two-out solo home run. His blast came after he looked silly flopping over the plate after fouling off a pitch from reliever Joe Beimel.
Lowe walked Hawpe to start the sixth, but got Chris Iannetta to ground back to him. Cox then removed him in favor of lefty Eric O'Flaherty, who worked Thursday. Lowe finished the day with seven hits and three earned runs allowed, with two walks and five strikeouts.
O'Flaherty stayed in the game, finishing the seventh inning. He allowed a run on a walk and a double, but struck out three batters. Kris Medlen finished off the game for the Braves with two very effective innings. His only hit allowed was a single to Spilborghs, and he struck out three batters.
Odds 'N Ends: Cabrera had his first multiple-hit game with the Braves, garnering two singles. The only other game where Cabrera reached base more than twice this year was the 5-4 loss to the Giants where he reached base with a double and two walks.
Martin Prado has a fourteen game hitting streak over two seasons, batting .458/.529/.644 over that span. His 19 hits in 10 games to start the season matches the club record set by Deion Sanders in 1992. Prado needs one hit to tie Neon Deion's record for 11 games and two hits to set a new one.
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Braves Complete Off-Season With Low-Risk, High-Reward Signings
BRAVES SIGN:1B Troy Glaus (32 PA, .172/.250/.241, 2 2B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 3/8 BB/K, 32 OPS+)
CIF/COF Eric Hinske (224 PA, .242/.348/.432, 12 2B, 8 HR, 25 RBI, 27/52 BB/K, 107 OPS+)
Frank Wren essentially completed the off-season for the Braves by signing third baseman Troy Glaus and utility man Eric Hinske to solidify Atlanta's bench.
Glaus, a career third baseman and designated hitter, has six career games at first base. All those games have come within the past two years in St. Louis. However, the potential for him being a 25-30 home run and 100 RBI, as Wren stated, is very high.
With Hinske, the Braves have a bench player who can play both corner infield and corner outfield positions. The former Rookie of the Year fulfilled the bench player role with the Pirates and Yankees last season.
This signing pretty much closes the book on Wren's off-season shopping. Assuming that Hinske, Glaus and Cabrera are to make the team and the Braves will carry 12 pitchers, this means the Braves have one bench spot left:
C - McCann
1B - Glaus
2B - Prado
SS - Escobar
3B - Jones
LF - Diaz
CF - McLouth
RF - Heyward
C - Ross
OF - Cabrera
OF/IF - Hinske
IF/LF - Infante
It's most likely that the last bench spot on the team will be filled by someone who can play shortstop. If Brooks Conrad can learn to play shortstop consistently in the spring, he may get the spot. An earlier signing in the winter, Joe Thurston, is another option because he has experience at shortstop. The third player likely to get that spot is Dioary Hernandez, who filled in for Escobar last season when Yunel was hurt. The only problem is that Hernandez's bat is VERY light (93 PAs of .144/.198/.212 with three doubles, one homer and a 9 OPS+) and he can only play shortstop.
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