McCarroll21
05-06-2007, 06:20 AM
Hudson Strong In Defeat
By: Josh McCarroll (http://www.braves-nation.com/forums/member.php?u=1) | Braves-Nation.com
A tale of two nights.
The night prior, John Smoltz shut out the Dodgers, in large part to keeping Rafael Furcal and Juan Pierre off the bases. The duo combined to go 2-for-9 on Friday night. Tim Hudson didn't have the same luck on Saturday, however. Furcal and Pierre combined to reach base five times in eight at bats, sparking the Dodgers' lineup on their way to scoring six runs.
Hudson and Derek Lowe had a pitchers duel going through the time they departed, but the bullpens allowed five runs in the ninth inning to set the score.
Hudson went deep into the game again on Saturday. He gave up three runs over eight innings of work. On the season, Hudson has pitched seven innings or more in each of his starts.
Lowe was even better than that though. He gave up only one run, an unearned run, over seven innings.
The Braves scored their only run of the night off Lowe in the third inning on an error by Jeff Kent. Willie Harris led off the inning with a single. After stealing second and third, Edgar Renteria drew a walk to set runners at the corners. Chipper Jones hit a ground ball that Kent booted to allow Harris to score the game's first run.
The Dodgers stole the lead right back in the fourth inning though. Furcal, Pierre and Nomar Garciaparra started the inning with consecutive singles. Furcal scored on the last of the singles. Pierre scored on a Luis Gonzalez force out to make the score 2-1.
The Dodgers scored another run in the eighth inning when Wilson Betemit hit a home run to right field to make the score 3-1.
In the ninth, the Braves bullpen gave up three runs to widen the margin. Tyler Yates walked Kent then gave up singles to Gonzalez and Russell Martin. Kent scored on the Martin single. Steve Colyer relieved Tyler Yates and didn't fair any better. He allowed a single to Ethier to score Brady Clark and then another single to Ramon Martinez to score Martin.
With Joe Beimel on the mound, the Braves mounted a two out rally. With Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur already out, Scott Thorman launched a double to the right field wall ahead of an infield single by Matt Diaz. After allowing a walk to Craig Wilson to load the bases, the Dodgers turned to Takashi Saito to close out the game. Kelly Johnson greeted Saito with a single to drive home Thorman and Diaz. Edgar Renteria followed with a ground ball that led the third baseman directly to the bag to get a force out to end the inning and game.
The teams will play again Sunday afternoon as Kyle Davies squares off against Randy Wolf of the Dodgers at 1:05.
By: Josh McCarroll (http://www.braves-nation.com/forums/member.php?u=1) | Braves-Nation.com
A tale of two nights.
The night prior, John Smoltz shut out the Dodgers, in large part to keeping Rafael Furcal and Juan Pierre off the bases. The duo combined to go 2-for-9 on Friday night. Tim Hudson didn't have the same luck on Saturday, however. Furcal and Pierre combined to reach base five times in eight at bats, sparking the Dodgers' lineup on their way to scoring six runs.
Hudson and Derek Lowe had a pitchers duel going through the time they departed, but the bullpens allowed five runs in the ninth inning to set the score.
Hudson went deep into the game again on Saturday. He gave up three runs over eight innings of work. On the season, Hudson has pitched seven innings or more in each of his starts.
Lowe was even better than that though. He gave up only one run, an unearned run, over seven innings.
The Braves scored their only run of the night off Lowe in the third inning on an error by Jeff Kent. Willie Harris led off the inning with a single. After stealing second and third, Edgar Renteria drew a walk to set runners at the corners. Chipper Jones hit a ground ball that Kent booted to allow Harris to score the game's first run.
The Dodgers stole the lead right back in the fourth inning though. Furcal, Pierre and Nomar Garciaparra started the inning with consecutive singles. Furcal scored on the last of the singles. Pierre scored on a Luis Gonzalez force out to make the score 2-1.
The Dodgers scored another run in the eighth inning when Wilson Betemit hit a home run to right field to make the score 3-1.
In the ninth, the Braves bullpen gave up three runs to widen the margin. Tyler Yates walked Kent then gave up singles to Gonzalez and Russell Martin. Kent scored on the Martin single. Steve Colyer relieved Tyler Yates and didn't fair any better. He allowed a single to Ethier to score Brady Clark and then another single to Ramon Martinez to score Martin.
With Joe Beimel on the mound, the Braves mounted a two out rally. With Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur already out, Scott Thorman launched a double to the right field wall ahead of an infield single by Matt Diaz. After allowing a walk to Craig Wilson to load the bases, the Dodgers turned to Takashi Saito to close out the game. Kelly Johnson greeted Saito with a single to drive home Thorman and Diaz. Edgar Renteria followed with a ground ball that led the third baseman directly to the bag to get a force out to end the inning and game.
The teams will play again Sunday afternoon as Kyle Davies squares off against Randy Wolf of the Dodgers at 1:05.