Braves Report

Finally, a win. The last game the Braves had won was last Friday, but it had just been mediocre performance since then. Well, they rebounded last night, not because the pitching staff was great, but, surprise, the offense found its way to the ballpark.

Derek Lowe started the game and didn’t quite give the performance that we’ve become accustomed to. Not a great outing, but enough for the win: 5 innings, 7 hits, 6 earned runs, 3 walks, and 5 strikeouts.

[Image: Yahoo! Sports]

It didn’t really matter, though, because the offense was good, and so was the rest of the bullpen. Buddy would follow him and would finagle himself out of a runners-on-the-corners jam that he put himself into. He gave up 2 hits and had a strikeout on the night. Moylan would come into the game into the 7th, pitching perfectly. Soriano pitched the 8th, giving up a hit while recording two strikeouts. Gonzalez came in for his 4th save, which he converted successfully, while also striking out two. Overall, a great night for the bullpen, not too great for Lowe.

The offense, after seemingly being gone for the past week, finally showed up again. Oddly enough, our “cleanup hitter” was leading the charge. This person was Garret Anderson, who was only 1-for-4 on the night, but managed to drive in 3 runs. These came in the form of a 2-RBI single and a ground out. Chipper Jones, rebounding from yesterday, had 2 hits, a double and a single, and drove in a pair of runs. Omar Infante also had 2 hits and drove in 2 runs. Finally, Yunel Escobar singled in a run in the 2nd inning. Other notables were Jeff Francoeur, who had 2 hits, raising his average to .287. David Ross also had a hit in the game. On the whole, a great night for the offense. 8 runs on 9 hits. That’s usually unheard of for this team.

Braves win, 8 – 6.

Next game: Thursday @ Marlins.

12:10 PM EST. Jurrjens vs. Sanchez.