Wood, Braves Beat Diamondbacks 8-1

The Atlanta Braves easily win the first game of their series with the Arizona Diamondbacks Monday night, 8-1.  Alex Wood stole the show tonight.  He pitched brilliantly, going eight innings and allowing one earned run.  The light-hitting Wood even had a great two-RBI single up the middle off Archie Bradley in the top of the second inning.  That was all he needed tonight and is now 4-2 on the season.

Offensively the Braves hit safely 13 times tonight.  Andrelton Simmons and Freddie Freeman both had three hits apiece.  Freeman had three RBI’s including a two-run monster shot to center over the Chase Field Pool.  Freddie has been crushing the baseball with three homers in as many games.  He now has eight on the year and has raised his season batting average to .297.  Perhaps what was even more exciting than the homer was his opposite field single in the top of the ninth. I think Freddie is heating up.  That’s a great thing especially in a hitter’s park like Chase Field.  Look out, Snakes!

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Every Braves starter but Todd Cunningham, who is really struggling at the plate, recorded at least one hit in tonight’s game.  Though Todd didn’t get a hit, he played magnificent defense in center.  He made all the plays in center look easy.  Scouts believe that Cunningham is the best defensive outfielder in the Braves organization.  All those diving and running catches definitely illustrated that tonight.

Overall, Atlanta feasted on a sub-par night from the Diamondbacks’ pitching staff.  All three D-Backs pitchers surrendered at least one run to the Braves tonight.  Wood’s eight innings of one-run ball and Trevor Cahill’s scoreless ninth made this a great night for the Atlanta staff.  The bullpen didn’t give up any runs!

It looks like the Atlanta ‘pen will be well-rested in this series as Shelby Miller takes the mound tomorrow.  I’d be surprised if he doesn’t go at least seven for the Braves Tuesday night.  Great win for the Atlanta Braves as the team is now over .500 with a 24-23 record.  As crazy as it sounds, the team is only 2.5 games out of first place in the NL East.  We’re on a bit of a winning streak, y’all.  This team is playing well now and Atlanta looks to win the series outright tomorrow night versus the Snakes.