Braves-Pirates series thread

[General]

We're up 3 games over the Nats.

Nil-Nil, bottom 5.

[General]

Horacio went 8, gave up 1 ER, but the pen is struggaling. Bases loaded, top 9, Braves up 2-1.

[General]

Peace, Pirates! 2-1 the final; McBride gets the save.

[ATLien]

McBride showed some balls tonight with those last 2 outs.

[General]

With Chris Reitsma needing a night off, the Braves used four pitchers in the ninth tonight and Macay McBride picked up his first career save.
Manager Bobby Cox was probably hoping Jay Powell would close it out, but after he got hurt on his second pitch, Jeff Foster, Jim Brower and McBride all worked in the inning. McBride entered with the bases loaded and one out and struck out Ryan Doumit and induced Tike Redman's game-ending groundout. He's earned himself more work in close games.

[General]

3-0 Pirates on a Bay 3-run bomb.

[Kingdom]

jeff foster?

the braves use the Pacers' big man now?
sweet

[General]

A 7-run 6th inning had put the Braves in the driver's seat. 9-5, although Kolb has just given up 2 ERs and is still in there. Francouer is 2-4 with a HR and 4 RBI.

[General]

ATLANTA (AP) -- Rookie Jeff Francoeur homered and drove in four runs, and the Atlanta Braves used a seven-run sixth inning to rally past the Pittsburgh Pirates 9-6 Saturday night, their fifth straight victory.

Francoeur's two-run double started the scoring in the sixth and gave the Braves their first lead at 4-3. Johnny Estrada and Kelly Johnson followed with RBI doubles to chase Mark Redman (5-11) with none out.

Pittsburgh manager Lloyd McClendon brought in Brian Meadows, who allowed pinch-hitter Wilson Betemit's single, Rafael Furcal's sacrifice fly, Marcus Giles' RBI triple and Chipper Jones' sacrifice fly to end the scoring and make it 9-3.

The Braves, who increased their NL East lead to five games over Washington and Florida, hadn't scored so many runs in an inning since Aug. 22, 2004, when they had an eight-run second at Los Angeles.

Pittsburgh has lost four straight.

Francoeur, an Atlanta native who grew up in nearby Lilburn, hit his sixth homer, a two-run shot, to make it 3-2 in the fourth.

Braves reliever Dan Kolb was booed in he eighth after he relieved Blaine Boyer and allowed Matt Lawton's RBI single, Jason Bay's RBI single and Freddy Sanchez's RBI groundout to make it 9-6.

Rookie Kyle Davies (5-3) earned the win after being recalled from Triple-A Richmond earlier in the day. The 21-year-old right-hander, who allowed two hits, three runs, three walks and a career-high eight strikeouts, trailed 3-0 after Bay hit his 19th homer in the first.

The damage could've been worse. Davies, a native of nearby Decatur, escaped more trouble with a 3-1 count on Jose Castillo and Daryle Ward on first. Castillo took an inside pitch that he and Ward apparently thought was a ball, but instead of waiting for umpire C.B. Bucknor's call, he laid down his bat and jogged to first.

Seeing that Ward had left first base prematurely, Davies quickly threw to Julio Franco. Davies tagged out Ward. He then struck out Castillo that ended the inning.

Chris Reitsma pitched the ninth for his 13th save in 17 opportunities, setting a single-season career high.

Redman lost his sixth straight on the road. Falling to 0-6 with a 6.62 ERA in his last nine starts away from Pittsburgh, the left-hander allowed seven runs, 10 hits, three walks and struck out three.

Game notes
One night after RHP Jay Powell broke his elbow, trainer Jeff Porter returned to the mound in the seventh to escort rookie Boyer off the field. The team gave no explanation. ... Franco singled in second for his 2,500th career hit. ... The Braves' last seven-run inning came June 27, 2004 at Baltimore, when they rallied for an 8-7 win. ... A crowd of 47,441 was Atlanta's 12th sellout of the season. ... In the sixth, the Braves batted around for the 16th time this year. ...

[General]

Blaine Boyer left tonight's game in the eighth inning with an undisclosed injury.
If the Braves have to send another pitcher to the DL, Jorge Vasquez would likely rejoin the pen

[General]

Blaine Boyer left tonight with a lower back strain, but he said he was fine after the game.
Consider him day-to-day.

Jeff Francoeur hit a two-run homer and doubled in two runs tonight in the Braves' victory over the Pirates.
We didn't think he was ready, but Francoeur has six homers and 16 RBI in 42 at-bats. He had 13 homers in 335 at-bats at Double-A Mississippi.

Kyle Davies allowed three runs and two hits in six innings and struck out eight Pirates in a win tonight.
Not bad for the Braves' seventh starter. Jason Bay, the fourth batter of the game, hit a three-run homer, but that was all the Pirates could do. Though Davies will likely head back to Richmond once Mike Hampton or John Thomson returns, he has value while he's in the rotation.

[General]

3-2 Pittsburgh, middle 4. Josh ****ing Fogg with an RBI single. Francouer is 1 for 1.

[General]

Rafael Furcal homered twice against the Pirates today.
Marcus Giles added four hits of his own in the 5-4 victory. Furcal got off to a very slow start in the average department, but he completes July by totaling 41 hits in 105 at-bats.

John Smoltz improved to 12-5 after limiting the Pirates to three runs over eight innings of work today.
He struck out four, gave up eight hits, and walked two. Smoltz has posted nine quality starts in his last ten outings

[General]

Duke's steak of 30 1/3 IP without giving up a run is DONE. Estrada doubles in Francouer, who doubled himself. 1-1 tie. Top 6th.

[General]

4-1 Pirates, in the 9th. Hudson has not impressed me lately.