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Rockies Take Opener Over Braves 5-4

The Braves played from behind for a majority of the ballgame but tied it up at four in the eighth inning. Alex Gonzalez hit an RBI double to make it a 4-4 game, but Rick Ankiel struck out with runners on second and third and two outs to end the inning.

In the bottom half, Carlos Gonzalez hit a single to right and then attempted a steal of second base. Brian McCann made a very nice throw and seemed to get him out, but umpire Ed Rapuano ruled him safe. Troy Tulowitzki walked and then Todd Helton singled, scoring Gonzalez from second. Ankiel made a nice throw to third to get Tulowitzki trying to advance but the damage had already been done.

Huston Street came on to close the game and retired the Braves in order while striking out both Melky Cabrera and Jason Heyward.

Heyward added three singles in his first three at-bats. He reached base six straight times in six plate appearnces on Sunday and also reached on his last plate appearance on Saturday, so he reached base in ten consecutive times to the plate. Heyward was retired in his fourth at-bat today, ending his streak. Ankiel hit his first homer for the Braves and Martin Prado hit his 14th of the season off of starter Jason Hammel, who pitched an effective 6.1 innings.

Tomorrow night at 8:40 EST, Derek Lowe takes on Jorge De La Rosa.

Photographs by coka_koehler used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.