Perez, Braves Shutout Giants 8-0

The Atlanta Braves shutout the San Francisco Giants Saturday night 8-0.  Williams Perez had a terrific third start for the Braves, pitching seven shutout innings.  He pitched with the poise of a veteran all night for Atlanta.  No Giant crossed the plate under Perez’s watch despite issuing four base on balls.  He was able to lower his season’s ERA to 2.66 tonight.  Perez not only earned his first big league win tonight but he also recorded his first big league hit.

There were many milestones tonight for the Atlanta Braves’ players.  Besides the two for Williams Perez, Cameron Maybin stole his 100th career base off Andrew Susac.  The Giants backup catcher had a glass arm tonight as three different Braves stole second on him.  Juan Uribe recorded his 300th career double and his first homer as an Atlanta Brave.  It was reminiscent of that infamous blast he had off David Carpenter in the 2013 NLDS.  There was no doubt about that one at all!

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Atlanta dominated Tim Lincecum in his start tonight.  The Freak didn’t make it out of the fifth inning.  His line tonight was 4.1 IP, 8H, and 4 ER.  The Braves bats woke up tonight with 14 hits.  Every Braves starter but Todd Cunningham had at least one base hit.  Uribe and Jace Peterson led the way with three hits apiece.  Maybin, Uribe, and Andrelton Simmons each had two RBI’s tonight.

And guess what, Atlanta?  The bullpen didn’t leak like a sieve tonight.  Luis Avilan, Jim Johnson, and Brandon Cunniff pitched two scoreless innings combined.  It wasn’t pretty with four hits between the three of them, but I’m pleased that the ‘pen didn’t blow Perez’s shutout.  Outside of Julio Teheran’s pasting in LA, the rotation has pitched great on this road trip.  That’s astonishing given the youth of the Atlanta rotation.  All five Braves starter are under the age of 25.

This was a fantastic ball game for the Braves.  Complete and utter dominance throughout.  Frankly the team needed an outing like this one.  Who thought Williams Perez would have staying power in the rotation?  It’s hard to imagine but the Braves worst starter at the moment is Julio Teheran.  And despite some tough starts recently, he’s still an above-.500 pitcher for the Braves.  I’m glad I stayed up and watched this entire ball game.  The Braves-Giants series finale comes at 4:05 PM ET when Julio Teheran takes on World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner.