Mike Minor continues recent success as Braves take down Reds in 12

The Atlanta Braves pitching staff limited the Cincinnati Reds to just two hits, but it still took the team 12 innings before they could pick up the 3-1 victory.

To start things off, Mike Minor continued his recent success on the mound with a 7.2 inning no-no effort before giving up a hit to Billy Hamilton in the eighth inning. After throwing 107 pitches, Minor’s final line was pretty stellar despite a few more walks than usual. He struck out five batters and allowed just one hit and one run while walking four.

That outing dropped his season ERA below five (4.90) for what seems like the first time in forever. His last three starts have been excellent, but is he actually back at this point? We’ve been believers on this site for a while, but it will be interesting to see how much faith is restored with the larger Braves community.

After Minor came out of the game, the Atlanta bullpen did a terrific job keeping the team in the game. Jordan Walden, David Carpenter, Anthony Varvaro, David Hale and Craig Kimbrel combined to throw 4.1 innings, allowing just one hit, a pair of walks and three strikeouts.

It was a fantastic night all-around for the pitching staff, but a bit disappointing that the offense took so long to actually put some runs on the board. Freddie Freeman started off the top of the 12th with a walk after Emilio Bonifacio grounded out, and Justin Upton continued his recent hot-streak by winning the game with a two-run homer to left.

Upton’s homer was part of a 3-6 night that also included a double. On the season, Upton is hitting .293/.368/.532 with 25 home runs, 29 doubles and 86 RBIs.

The Braves will look to take a third game tomorrow at 7:10 p.m. when Ervin Santana faces off against Mike Leake.