Atlanta Braves Morning Chop for 8/13
Haren, Dodgers beat hapless Braves again, 4-2
ASSOCIATED PRESS / ESPN LOS ANGELES
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ATLANTA — The Dodgers are getting solid performances out of their starting pitchers.
Pretty good hitting, too.
Dan Haren pitched six innings and sparked the go-ahead rally with a single, leading Los Angeles to another win over the skidding Atlanta Braves, 4-2 on Tuesday night.
It was the second night in a row the Dodgers got production out of the ninth spot in the order. The previous night, Kevin Correia had two hits and scored a run.
“I was hoping I didn’t get thrown out,” Haren (10-9) quipped about his hit to right-center field. “It takes me about eight seconds to get to first.”
After allowing a fourth-inning homer to B.J. Upton that put the Braves up 2-1, Haren reached base with one out in the fifth. Carl Crawford followed with a double, sending Haren to third, and the pitcher scored the tying run on Yasiel Puig‘s grounder to third. “Puig hit the ball and I wasn’t sure if it was going to the pitcher,” Haren said. “I just went!”
Matt Kemp hit a little blooper to right that just got over the glove of second baseman Tommy La Stella, bringing home Crawford. That was enough for the Dodgers.
Minor Has Something to Build On…
Really good to see ya back, Mike Minor (36). Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
FOX SPORTS SOUTH / CORY McCARTNEY
“I felt like I turned a corner a little bit,” Minor said. “Just the way I felt, pitches the way they were breaking, mechanically and getting on the mound and throwing strikes.”
Minor struck out Carl Crawford on three pitches — culminating in an 82-mph knuckle curve — and through the first two innings, he had more K’s (four) as he had in two of his last three outings (one each).
He threw 6 2/3 innings, allowing three earned runs and a walk and for the third time in 11 games he didn’t give up a home run.
“I can’t wait until the next start, because he pounded the strike zone with his fastball and he threw a couple nice off(speed) breaking pitches,” said manager Fredi Gonzalez. “That was a really good outing. A solid outing.”
The Box
Here’s last night’s stats from baseball-reference.com. Trying to stay on an optimistic note, there is good news here: Minor scattered 8 hits, and yielded 3 earned runs, but his pitches looked crisper and like they actually had “life” in them last night. The 7 strikeouts recorded were the most in any game since 11 on June 20th vs. Washington, and 3rd highest for the year. He gave up only 1 walk and no homers – both stats are excellent signs (bettered only once in 2014).
Now if we can just get Mikey some offensive help. *sigh*
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - Dodgers 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 4 10 1 Braves 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 1
Something Else To Build On
Here’s the latest aerial photo of the new stadium site in Cobb County – courtesy of a WSB News Copter Cam and twitter: