The Braves' unimposing starting line-up turned lemons into lemonade today as they put up 13, yes 13(!) runs. Talking Chop summarizes today’s offensive landslide:
In the third, Melky Cabrera hit an opposite-field double off of Padilla’s freakish eephus-like pitch; that knocked in Brooks Conrad to make it 1-0 Braves. After a sacrifice, Omar Infante auto-singled Melky in to make it 2-0. Ankiel then singled just under the glove of a slow-footed Ryan Theriot, and Gonzalez followed by scorching a liner into the right-center gap for a 2-run triple.
In the fifth, Infante led off with another auto-single. Ankiel walked (the one thing he’s consistently done well since coming to the Braves), and Gonzalez was hit by a pitch. That brought up Brian McCann, who hit a sac fly to make it 5-0. The next batter, Troy Glaus, delivered the coup de grace with a towering 3-run homer to make it 8-0…
…The Braves added a single run in the sixth on a sac fly by Alex Gonzalez, then put up another 4-spot in the 8th with the help of the sun. Dodgers right fielder Jay Gibbons lost a ball in the afternoon sun, which opened the floodgates for a remarkable series of bloop hits. Gonzalez, Glaus, Eric Hinske, and Brooks Conrad all had RBI singles in the 8th.
In the end, all the Braves’ starters (including Jurrjens) got a hit.
Jair Jurrjens picked up the win (5-4), allowing just one run over seven innings.
Tomorrow’s series finale is scheduled to feature Tommy Hanson (8-8, 3.51 ERA) taking on Chad Billingsley (9-7, 3.78 ERA). Both pitchers have performed very well over the past month (both with sub-2.00 ERA’s), so Monday’s game could be a pitcher’s duel waiting to happen.
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