Braves Drop Final Game Against Cards, Fall One Game Behind Phillies in East

With three weeks left in the season, division races in the National League are heating up.  Earlier today, the Giants’ win over the Padres moved them into a tie for first in the West, and the red hot Rockies are only one-and-a-half games back after winning their tenth straight on a walk-off home run by Jason Giambi.

And the Braves and the Cardinals, battling for first-place spots in the East and Central, went head-to-head tonight at Turner Field in Atlanta.  The Cards are in a situation where they must win virtually every game, 6.5 back of the Reds, while the Braves found themselves struggling to regain their position atop the NL East, coming in a half game back from the Phillies.

In spring training, Jim Leyland compared Braves rookie phenom Jason Heyward to the Cards’ three-time MVP and eight-time All-Star first baseman Albert Pujols.  And the two put on a hitting clinic. 

Pujols, who was hitting .435 against Braves starting pitcher Tim Hudson, continued the trend belting two solo homers that got out of the park in a hurry in his first two at-bats.  Heyward did his part as well, going two-for-three including two hard hit doubles and two walks.  Watching these two at the plate and listening to the crack as the ball literally jumps off their bats, it’s easy to understand where Leyland was coming from back in March.

The night was less encouraging on the mound for the Braves as their ace Hudson gave up nine hits and six earned runs through five.  Nothing was working right for Hudson who had trouble getting the ball down and threw 102 pitches, only 59 for strikes.  

The two home runs given up to Pujols were only numbers 13 and 14 for Hudson, who was averaging just one home run in 16.5 innings.  And Hudson’s streak of 19 straight games of pitching six or more innings came to a halt as the Braves turned to their bullpen early.

For the Cards, Kyle Lohse’s strong performance was a step in the right direction in getting the right-hander’s confidence up after coming back from arm surgery.  Lohse, who came into the game with a 2-7 record and 7.13 ERA, gave up two earned runs through five and a third.  

Lohse had some help from his defense, particularly centerfielder Colby Rasmus who had two spectacular catches in the fourth including one that robbed Nate McClouth of a home run.  Continued success by Lohse will be important for the Cardinals who have struggled throughout the season to fill a gap in their starting rotation—while the team is 54-34 when Carpenter, Wainwright and Garcia are starting, they had a 19-33 record otherwise prior to tonight’s win.

Atlanta managed to tack on one more run in the sixth on an RBI-single by Alex Gonzalez and another in the eighth on a solo homer by McCloth, but the Braves’ bats came up short late in the game and Atlanta lost 7-3.

With a healthy Phillies lineup back in action and a formidable starting rotation led by the Roys, the Braves will need to step up their game if they are to stay in the race and have a chance at the postseason.