It appeared to be another lowly night for the Braves offense until Joe Mather took things into his own hands. The Braves scored four in the seventh and one in the 12th to take the 5-4 win.
The Angels got on the board in the first with a two-run home run by Bobby Abreu. Nothing happened until the fifth when Torii Hunter added two more for the Angels on a two-run single.
The Braves were held scoreless through six, but Joel Pineiro ran out of gas quickly in the seventh. With two on, Mather hit a three-run homer to bring the Braves back to within one. Brian McCann followed with an RBI double to tie the game at four.
Both teams held the 4-4 tie until the 12th when Mather struck for an RBI double for the 5-4 lead.
Mather had a career day, going 4-6 with a double, homer and four RBIs. McCann went 2-4 with two doubles and an RBI. Martin Prado, Eric Hinske, Alex Gonzalez and Freddie Freeman each had two hits. The Braves had 17 hits but left 14 on base. Compare that to five hits for the Angels and six left on base.
Tommy Hanson didn't have his best stuff, allowing four runs on five hits in six innings, walking four and striking out seven. He kept the hits to a minimum, but the Angels struck when they had the opportunity. Hanson's command wasn't spot on, either, walking three unintentionally.
The bullpen was dominant in 12 scoreless innings behind Hanson. Eric O'Flaherty pitched a scoreless seventh, Jonny Venters pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth, George Sherrill pitched a scoreless 10th with two strikeouts, Scott Proctor pitched a scoreless 11th for the win, and Craig Kimbrel pitched a scoreless 12th for the save.
Pineiro pitched six shutout innings before allowing four runs in the seventh. His final line was 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on 11 hits with no walks and two strikeouts.
The bullpen held the Braves scoreless until the 12th when Trevor Bell gave up the go-ahead run.
Hunter went 2-5 with two RBIs. Abreu went 1-3 with a homer, two RBIs and two walks. The Angels walked seven times.
For more on the series, Braves fans check out Talking Chop and Angels fans check out Halos Heaven.