Braves Report

The reason why the Braves won against the Nationals on Wednesday night was because they walked in the only run of the game. The Braves won tonight for a similar reason: patience at the plate. Once again, the Braves were aided by the opposing pitchers walking in runs. The result was a win in game one of the series and a record back at .500.

Vazquez started this game and I think I’m beginning to understand more and more of what he’s capable of. He was fantastic: 6 innings, 2 runs (1 earned), a walk, and, count ‘em, 9 strikeouts.

[Image: Yahoo! Sports]

Rock on, Javier. Moylan followed him in the 7th inning and was spotless except for a walk. In the next inning, Soriano allowed a lead off double, which led to a run. Gonzalez came in for the save and was perfect with 2 strikeouts, earning him his second save of the season.

Once again, the offense’s strength was demonstrated through their patience. The opposing pitcher, Edinson Volquez, ended up walking 7 batters in 5 innings. 5 of these came in the 4th inning, whereby the Braves were able to score two runs without even recording a hit. Vazquez and Kelly Johnson would be given back-to-back RBIs because of this. In the 5th inning, Jeff Francoeur punched a shot over the center field fence, his second of the year. The Braves would keep the lead for good with the help of a Matt Diaz RBI single in the 8th. Other than that, the bats were relatively quiet. Johnson and Kotchman had the only other hits for the Braves in the game: 4 in total. Oh well, a win is a win. I’m just glad to see that where their plate discipline would not have permitted this type of outcome last year, it did tonight.

Braves win game one by 1, 4 – 3.

Next game: Saturday @ Reds.

1:10 PM EST. Lowe vs. Arroyo. It should be a pitching duel.