Braves Bats Come Alive, Beat Brewers 11-3

(Source: Yardbarker.com)

After struggling for what seemed like months, the Braves bats have awakened in the first two games of their series with Milwaukee. The Braves took the second game by an 11-3 margin. An offense that on this night was anchored by Eric Hinske (2 doubles, 3RBI) and Troy Glaus (HR, Double, 3RBI) has began to come around enough to show the Atlanta faithful just a little bit of optimism.

The Braves made up for some lost time by banging out 16 hits last night. Rookie Phenom Jason Heyward returned to the lineup batting in Chipper’s #3 spot in the order and calmly went 2-4 at the plate scoring three times. Martin Prado and Brooks Conrad were the other Braves with at least two hits including Conrad’s first home run of the season.

Tim Hudson was erratic but battled all night. Huddy’s line isn’t that impressive (6 IP, 6 Hits, 6 BB, 1 K) but it really is when you see that he allowed only one earned run on the night. He came up with a ground ball anytime that he really needed it leading to the Braves defense turning two double plays on the night. Hudson’s performance exemplifies a pitcher going out there without his greatest command but not giving in. Of course it helps that the Braves were scoring runs.

Overall the Braves bullpen did its job (3 IP, 2ER, 5K) save for a tiny hick up by Peter Moylan and Eric O’Flaherty.  So the Braves go for the sweep this afternoon against Brewer ace Yovanni Gallardo. Derek Lowe will be on the bump for the Braves. The Braves will need to keep their bats working and hopefully continue this upswing heading into the weekend. A sweep would be huge for this teams confidence. With out a doubt Bobby Cox needs to keep Eric Hinske in the lineup in the short term. It is his timely hitting that has actually made a lot of difference.