Braves swing their way to first win over Brewers
Apr 1, 2014; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) hits a solo home run in the sixth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. At left is Milwaukee Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy (20). Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
The Atlanta Braves picked up their first win of the 2014 campaign by beating the Milwaukee Brewers in game two of the season opening three-game series by a score of 5-2.
Things didn’t look good early, as Braves starter Alex Wood allowed a lead off home run to Carlos Gomez in the bottom of the first inning, but settled down after that, not allowing a run in the rest of his seven total innings he pitched. Wood had a similar start as Julio Teheran did yesterday, in which if you correct one mistake, he gets out of the game unscathed and pitches a heck of a ball game. Which both still did.
The Braves bats came alive (finally), as Jason Heyward went yard in the top of the 5th to bring himself and Andrelton Simmons home, and Freddie Freeman went yard, TWICE, once off of Kyle Lohse in the top of the 6th with two outs, and again in the top of the 8th – again with two outs – this time off of Zach Duke.
The Braves were also able to manufacture a run in the top of the 9th, as Dan Uggla doubled to lead off, Evan Gattis singled to put runners at the corners, and a Simmons sacrifice fly would score Uggla.
Wood finished the night going 7 full innings, allowing just 5 hits and a single run, against the first batter of the game, and will escape is first start of the season with a 1.29 ERA. (He also walked 3 and struck out 5.) David Carpenter came in the 8th (which I still don’t understand – Wood was throwing lights out and was “only” at 93 pitches) and found himself in a bit of trouble, and was a half an inch foul away from a fly ball into right field getting down to score one (possibly more), and only surrendered a single run. Craig Kimbrel came into the game, and did what Kimbrel does – never falling below 95, and getting batters to chase pitches out of the zone and look very silly – going on to strike out the side to end the game.
Tonight is what we all hoped we would see yesterday from the Braves, but it’s finally coming together. Heyward and Freeman will hopefully team up to make quite the dynamic duo. Uggla, while only going 2-for-4, put great swings together, and hit just about everything either on a line or into the outfield. The young pitching that needed to step up in the absence of Kris Medlen and Brandon Beachy has done that the past two games, and while we still have 160 games to go, I’m already giddy about what the end result can and will be.
The Braves and Brewers conclude their three-gamer tomorrow at 1:10 ET, and it is the MLB.tv free game of the day, which means you can watch it on MLB.com (or your paid-for At Bat app), and you’ll be able to see the game free of charge! It’ll also pit Aaron Harang in his first Braves start against Matt Garza. Stay tuned.