(Source: Yardbarker.com)
Tim Hudson pitched eight sparkling innings of one run baseball and Martin Prado had four hits including two homers to lead the Braves to a 13-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Braves had no trouble getting to Arizona Ace Dan Haren early as Prado tagged him for a lead off home run in the first inning. Eric Hinske would add his first home run of the year in the fifth as the Braves went on to score 7 runs (6 earned) on Haren in just 4.1 innings.
The Braves offense returned from its slumber on Saturday night to the tune of 13 runs on 14 hits including 4 home runs. Two by Prado, one by Hinske, and Troy Glaus added a solo shot in the 8th inning. The Braves hammered the Diamondbacks embattled bullpen for 6 earned runs in just 3.2 innings.
The story of this game though was Tim Hudson. After struggling with his command in his last start (6 walks) he was down right masterful in this one. Eight innings pitched allowing only one run on three hits. He struck out six Diamondbacks while running his season record to 4-1. Eric O’Flahrety came in and pitched a scoreless ninth striking out two batters himself.
The win pulled the Braves to within one game of the .500 mark at 18-19 on the season. It also brought them up out of the cellar in the NL East as they are now a half a game in front of the New York Mets. While those numbers might not seem too good they are reason for optimism around here given how bleak things looked a couple of weeks ago. Simple fact is that the Braves pitching has been good enough all season, they just have to score runs if they want to stay in the race.
Scoring runs they have been lately to the tune of 48 runs with 11 homers in their last 6 games. Also of note is that they have a 5-1 record in those games. Troy Glaus has come around and is now driving in runs (.283 5hr 25rbi) and Eric Hinske (.360 1hr 17rbi) has given the Braves some punch in what seemed like a punchless outfield save for Jason Heyward. Heyward went 0-4 on Sunday but did walk twice and scored twice. So he is still finding his way on base.
The Braves start a quick two game set with the New York Mets tonight. Derek Lowe (5-3, 5.73) will be facing off with Mike Pelfrey (4-1, 3.43)
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