Atlanta Braves: 4th Inning Implosion Cues 8-2 Loss to Giants

7 hits, 6 runs.

Those numbers account for the Giants’ production in the 4th inning off of Tim Hudson, and in short, the story of Friday night’s 8-2 loss in San Francisco. Buster Posey opened the scoring with an RBI double that plated Marcu Scutaro, and after 4 additional run-scoring plays (including a Matt Cain seeing-eye single), the damage was done and the Braves trailed 6-0.

Frankly, Tim Hudson wasn’t terrible in his performance. He did allow 8 hits and 6 earned runs, but the ball was rarely squared up against him, and for the first 3 innings, he absolutely cruised. This was just “one of those nights” for the Braves veteran, and they do happen over a 162-game (or 30+ start) season.

Offensively, the Braves struggled mightily, churning out only 3 hits over the full compliment of innings. Both Atlanta runs came on a 5th inning home run by Brian McCann, and other than that, the Braves never threatened. It is a very encouraging sign to see McCann swing the bat with authority this early in his return to action, but as far as positives, his blast was probably the only one on this night.

There is no shame in being shut down by a stud like Matt Cain (who went 8 innings here) or in getting pummeled by ground balls that seemingly won’t stop finding holes, but in the end, this wasn’t a particularly pleasurable evening. With two more games on the horizon, the Braves will look to salvage at least a split, or possibly take 3 of 4 games from the world champions. Stay tuned for Saturday’s 4:05 PM ET first pitch, and a stellar match-up between Paul Maholm and Madison Bumgarner.