Craig Kimbrel recorded his 41st save of the season on Wednesday night and now has the all-time saves record by a rookie pitcher. For a kid who has been dubbed the future closer of the franchise for years, it's pretty damn special to break a record with an entire month left to play. Congratulations, Craig. It's been awesome to watch you pitch this season.
As for the other eight innings, it was the Derek Lowe show. Lowe worked six strong innings and allowed just three hits and two walks. His lone mistake came on a solo-home run hit by Michael Morse, but the veteran starter was excellent outside of that. The slider, which was the key to his late-season success in 2010, was all over the plate against the Nationals and they were helpless against it.
It may be a small sample six, but Lowe has now given up just three runs in his last eighteen innings. That's phenomenal news.
Chipper Jones home run No. 450 of his career with a solo-homer in the second inning off John Lannan. Derek Lowe even joined in on the home run hitting parade and hit a homer of his own, the first of the season. Dan Uggla also drove in a run with an infield single.
Eric O'Flaherty and Jonny Venters worked quick innings to set up the ninth for Kimbrel. He struck out Morse on a 100-mph fastball to end the game.
The win is Atlanta's 80th of the season. The team will go for the series victory on Thursday night. Tim Hudson will be on the mound against Chien-Ming Wang.