Brandon Beachy pitched six shutout innings as the Braves defeated the Tigers, 5-3.
Beachy solidified his place in the rotation by allowing just two hits over six scoreless innings, walking one and striking out six. A leadoff double by Miguel Cabrera in the second and Jhonny Peralta single in the fifth were the only hits allowed. Along with the six strikeouts, Beachy induced six groundouts to four flyouts.
Scott Linebrink allowed an unearned run in the seventh. He allowed a single to Cabrera that was followed by an error by Dan Uggla that kept Cabrera on base. A wild pitch scored him from third, so the fault goes to Linebrink just as much as Uggla, if not more. It was his only hit allowed, though.
George Sherrill continues to struggle, allowing two runs in an inning. Brandon Inge doubled and Danny Worth singled, followed by a sac fly RBI by Will Rhymes and wild pitch that scored the two runs. Sherrill had two wild pitches and a walk in the inning, so he was definitely all over the place again. This one has caused a little concern for me.
Eric O'Flaherty pitched a perfect ninth, including a strikeout of Ramon Santiago.
Back-to-back singles to lead off the first by Alex Gonzalez and Jason Heyward set up a three-run home run by Chipper Jones, welcoming Tigers starter Adam Wilk in a rough way. Gonzalez doubled home a run in the second. Eric Hinske drove in a run on a sac fly in the fifth for the fifth run.
Gonzalez had two hits, including a double, and a RBI. Heyward had a single and walk and scored twice. Chipper's home run was his only hit, but he also walked.
Matt Young is doing everything he can to make the team these days, going 2-3 with two singles and a walk. Since the pressure was applied with more innings in the field and more at bats over the last couple weeks, Young seems to have stepped up.
Stock:
As I said, Young is doing everything he can to go straight to Atlanta with this club. Whether it's enough is yet to be seen, but he's making things difficult for the Braves if they are looking elsewhere right now.
I am officially watching Sherrill with more concern. That's about all I have to say.