The Atlanta Braves were held scoreless for 8 innings tonight; thanks to some nifty pitching out of the bullpen, so were the Pirates. By the end of the near five hour marathon which left the roster exhausted–both literally and physically–and one day after the much hyped debut of flame throwing phenom Tommy Hanson, Kris Medlen stood the victor. He threw three innings of one hit ball, and showed no signs of nervousness getting Adam LaRoche to ground into a double play after an error by Blanco allowed the go ahead run to reach second in the top of the 14th.
Before the bats went into multiple inning hibernation, as they too often do lately, the Braves got some much needed pop from their new center fielder. Nate McCluth hit his tenth home run over the center field wall in the fifth inning, and then rounded the bases through a throng of guys he called teammates a mere 100 hours ago–all standing motionless, their hands on their hips, a display of collective defiance to their General Manager, Neal Huntington, for dealing away perhaps their best player.
The Braves, on the other hand, now back to .500 (a watermark they have been bobbing at for nearly four seasons), hope McClouth takes the same breezy jog around the base pads a couple dozen more times this summer, marking an end to what has been a frightening paucity of long balls.
He may have to, if the Braves aren’t to be motionless themselves come October.
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