Braves Filet Fish In Series Opener

Let’s be honest, Braves fans; it’s been a rough couple weeks.

Not that that’s news. An eight-game losing streak was snapped by a few starts with anemic offense, horrific bullpen, and shaky starting pitching.

That’s why Tuesday’s 11-0 mashing of the Marlins felt so much sweeter. The Braves combined for eleven runs on sixteen hits (four of which by the former fish Dan Uggla), and Hudson turned in a brilliant start for his fourth win of the season. Rookie shortstop Andrelton Simmons had his first big night with the bat, going 2 for 4 with three batted in, a triple, and a long ball that fell just shy of the wall. This one was all Uggla and Simmons, but we’ll get to that in a second.

The Braves scored the first run of the game in the top of the first with a Jason Heyward RBI groundout. Marlins’ starter Anibal Sanchez settled down for a few innings until he had to battle former teammate Dan Uggla in the fourth, who crushed a home run to left center to extend the Braves lead. The inning continued with an Andrelton Simmons RBI single (the first RBI of his career) that plated Freddie Freeman. The Braves went up 3-0 and would never look back.

The Bravos struck again in the seventh as the rookie Simmons followed up his first RBI with a run scoring triple to drive in Jason Heyward. Simmons would later score on a Tim Hudson sac fly (remember kids, he can hit), and Dan Uggla added his third RBI of the day with a single to left.

But the bats weren’t done. Uggla hit his second long ball of the night in the ninth, scoring Prado and plating his fifth ribeye of the evening. Simmons followed with his third RBI of the night, an RBI single to score Freeman, then Hudson singled to score Heyward (told you he could hit). When the dust settled in the ninth, it was 11-0 Braves, and Hudson was putting the finishing touches on his complete game shutout.

Tim Hudson was in command of his stuff today, which was good to see after a rough start against Washington last Friday. Huddy completed all nine innings, blanking the fish and striking out three. Hudson yielded just five hits and three walks, and the Braves secured a win in the series opener.