After the series opener, I wasn’t feeling too good about this series. That game ended in an 11-1 beatdown that saw Mike Redman fall apart in the late innings to take the loss. Just as bad, the pen was tagged hard and the Braves scored just a single run on Jeff Francoeur’s solo homerun.
Then the Braves got it going on Saturday and John Smoltz outdueled former teammate Tom Glavine in a 5-3 win. Smotlz gave up two runs on seven hits and four walks with four strikeouts in six innings of work. Mike Gonzalez was touched up for a run but Rafael Soriano and Bob Wickman closed it out and the Braves walked away with the win. I like that relief triumvirate and it’ll do us well this year. At the plate, Mike Diaz homered and drove in two runs.
In the rubber game, the Braves couldn’t figure out Orlando Hernandez. It wasn’t until Aaron Heilman came in that the Braves scored two runs to win it. Brian McCann doubled home a run in the bottom of the ninth to tie it and then Jeff Francoeur doubled home McCann for the winning run. Kyle Davies almost had a solid start go to waste but it once again, the Gonzalez/Soriano/Wickman trio did the job out of the pen.
So the Braves rule the east, at least for now. They get tomorrow off before the Nationals roll into town for a three game series. I like our chances of staying on top and anything less then two of three would be disappointing.
