Number 32 for the Reds had a stellar performance Friday at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. Jay Bruce, a 21 year old native of Beaumont, Texas sparked the Cincinnati Reds with two hits and two runs helping in a three to two victory over the Braves. The center-fielder helped himself to a game tying RBI in the bottom of the sixth inning. After a sacrifice fly by Brandon Phillips the score was two to one in favor of the Reds. Tom Glavine who started the day was able to get through the sixth but the damage was done as the Braves were unable to finish the deal. Mark Teixeira opened the scoring a with a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth, Kelly Johnson who had doubled to open the inning scored on the play. The Braves then answered the Reds in the seventh inning with a run scoring double play by Reuben Gotay. The Reds won it in eleven innings, scoring off two defensive miscues by Chipper Jones who also went 0 for 5 for the day, striking out once and grounding into two double plays.

Notes: Mark Kotsay was put on the DL list today. Josh Anderson was called up and has taken his place on the roster. John Smoltz is to pitch one more minor league assignment and may be available for action on Monday.

Second baseman Rickie Weeks hit a RBI tripe in the bottom of the 9th inning in yesterday’s game against the Braves. Jojo Reyes took the loss after putting the winning run on base by walking J.J. Hardy to start the 8th. The loss brings his record to 2-3 with a 4.83 ERA. Blaine Boyer came in after Reyes’ walk of Hardy; Jason Kendall then sacrificed the runner to second and while Boyer was able to strike out the next batter he faced he was unable to set down Rickie Weeks with two outs in the inning.

Bobby Cox indicated in a post-game interview that Reyes had pitched a good game, but it just wasn’t enough with Jeff Suppan’s eight inning gem. Suppan limited the Braves to four hits and struck out seven. The Braves had lots of opportunities early, leaving seven runners on base in the first five innings.

Tomorrow’s game starts at 1:05 EST and will feature the Braves right-hander Jorge Compillo (1-0, 0.86 ERA) against right-hander Seth McClung (2-1, 3.55 ERA).

Notes: Chipper Jones extended his hitting streak to 10 games after a single in the 3rd inning. Rafael Soriano was activated from the disabled list after Matt Diaz was placed on the 15-day DL with a posterior cruciate ligament strain and a laceration on his left leg which needed four stitches following a play in Tuesday’s game.

The Braves are now 2-14 in one-run games this season.

(Source: ESPN) Atlanta has lost 18 straight one-run road games.

Atlanta’s last one-run victory on the road came on Thursday August 9th, 2007 when the Braves defeated the Mets in Shea Stadium 7-6. Tim Hudson got the W while John Maine took the loss. Interestingly enough, this game could’ve also been a heart-breaker for the Braves if not for the heroics of Willie Harris who is now with the Washington Nationals organization.

Image: http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/08/09/sports/baseball/10mets.ready.html

Before that Mets/Braves game the Atlanta club had been on a four game slide in one-run games on the road (referring to 2007 season). The Braves finished the 2007 season with a 18-25 record in one-run games overall.

The Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers were locked in a pitcher duel on Wednesday night as they only combined for seven hits in the game.  The Braves had four of the seven hits, but lost on the scoreboard where it really mattered.  The Brewers pushed across a run in the eithth inning to beat the Braves 1-0.

Jo-Jo Reyes pitched good as he lasted seven inning but ended up taking the loss.   Reyes gave up two hits and the one run in seven innings.  Rickie Weeks had a rbi triple in the eighth inning that proved to be the winning run off of Reyes.

Blaine Boyer pitched a scoreless eighth inning out of the bullpen.

The Braves hitters struckout seven times and left 12 runners on base.  They were shutout so there really isn’t much to blog about other then the hitters really sucked it up!

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A nice divisional win for the Atlanta Braves tonight as they beat the New York Mets by the score of 4-2.  Tim Hudson pitched eight strong innings as he picked up the win and the Braves started the weekend series on the right foot.

Hudson gave up seven hits and two runs in the game.  Two solo home runs in the second inning was all Hudson gave the Mets.  Hudson is now 7-3 on the season with the win.  Manny Acosta came in and got the first two outs in the ninth inning before Will Ohman came in to get the last out and record the save which was his first of the year.

The Braves were led at the plate by Kelly Johnson who went 3-4 with an rbi.  Chipper Jones, Omar Infante, Mark Teixeira, and Johnson all had one rbi in the game.  The Braves offense had 12 hits in the game compared to 8 for the Mets.

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The Atlanta Braves completed a double header sweep of the New York Mets on Tuesday with a 6-2 win in the second game.  That was coming off a 6-1 win in the first game of the double header.

This time it was Jorge Campillo who shut down the Mets as he tossed seven innings to pick up the win and improve to 1-0 on the season.  Campillo only gave up three hits while striking out seven batters.

Jeff Bennett pitched a scoress seventh inning before Blaine Boyer came in and gave up two runs while only recording two outs in the eighth inning.  That is when Manny Acosta came in to get the last four outs of the game and pick up his third save of the season.

At the plate for the Braves, Mark Kotsay had a two run home run in the eighth inning.  Other then those two runs, the four other Braves runs all came within the first three innings of the game.  Chipper Jones had a rbi double in the first inning to get the Braves on the board.  Mark Teixeira then had a rbi single third inning before Kelly Johnson had a two run double.

Good day for the Braves as the win both games and improve their record to 24-21.  Braves Blog

The Atlanta Braves beat the New York Mets if the first game of their double header on Monday.  Tom Glavine said that he wasn’t feeling that good in the bullpen and was shacky in the first inning but then settled down to pitch the Braves past the Mets by the score of 6-1.

Glavine tossed six innings while giving up three hits and one run to improve his record to 2-1 on the season.  The one run that Glavine gave up came in the first inning with Luis Castillo took him deep for a solo home run.

Will Ohman, Blaine Boyer, and Manny Acosta pitched the final three innings in the game and all did a fairly good job.

The Braves were led at the plate by Brian McCann who had a two run home run and a rbi single to finish the game with three rbi.  Yunel Escobar, Mark Teixeira, and Kelly Johnson, all chipped in with one rbi as well.

It was a good win for the Braves as they are now 1.5 games back in the division.  The Braves, Mets, and Phillies are all 1.5 games back of the Marlins right now.  Braves Blog

The Atlanta Braves were shutout by the Philadelphia Phillies by the score of 5-0 on Thursday evening.  It was just a very disappointing game for the Braves as they fell to the .500 mark at 20-20 on the season.

Chuck James was the losing pitcher for the Braves as dropped his record to 2-3.  James only lasted four innings while he gave up six hits and five runs.  The problem with James was that he gave up three home runs which accounted for four of the Nationals five runs.

Jorge Campillo pitched three scoreless innings and Chris Resop pitched one scoreless inning in relief of James.

The Braves offense was only able to come up with four hits off of Cole Hamels who threw a complete game for the Phillies.

Now the Braves will play a three game series with the Oakland Athletics and the Braves will need to bring their A game if they want to have a shot at winning the series.

Braves Homeplate is currently looking for a Braves fan that would like to write game recaps once the Braves games are over.  If this interests you, please email us by clicking the contact us link at the top of the page.  Braves Blog

The Atlanta Braves hit three home runs as they beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-6.  The Braves avoided he the three game sweep by getting this win over the Phillies.  Good win for the Braves as they didn’t want to drop all three games.

The Braves hit three home runs as Chipper Jones, Kelly Johnson, and Yunel Escobar all went deep.  Mark Kotsay, Brian McCann, Jones and Johnson all finished the game with two rbi.  Escobar, Jeff Francoeur, Gregor Blanco, and Tom Glavine all had one rbi in the game as the Braves really spread about the offense.

Glavine was able to pick up the win in the game as he pitched 5 2/3 innings and gave up four hits and four runs.  Two of those runs came on a two run home run by Chase Utley in the sixth inning.

Royce King was the only Braves reliever to give up a run as he let a run in in the eighth inning.  Blaine Boyer pitched the ninth inning to record the save for the Braves even though he gave up one run and had to get out of a big jam to hold the Phillies off.

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The Atlanta Braves couldn’t quite get it done and come up with the big hits that they needed to against the Washington Nationals as they lost 5-4 on Tuesday night.  The Braves had two runners on base when Jeff Francoeur flied out to end the game.

The Braves did score one run in the ninth inning when Brian McCann had a rbi double to deep center field.  Before that run, the Braves first three runs came in the first inning when Chipper Jones had a rbi single and Francoeur had a two run single.  It was just like the Braves went to sleep in the middle innings of the game.

Jo-Jo Reyes pitched 6 2/3 innings to take the loss for the Braves.  Reyes gave up eleven hits and five runs while striking out five batters.  Jorge Campillo and Manny Acosta pitched the final 1 1/3 innings to finish out the game.

The Braves are now 19-19 on the season.  Braves Blog

The Atlanta Braves started to hit the ball in game two of the afternoon double header with the Pittsburgh Pirats as they won 8-1.  Before the second game, the Braves had lost 5-0 as they were shutout by Zach Duke.

Tim Hudson pitched a great game as he improved to 6-2 on the season.  Hudson tossed seven innings of two hit baseball and only allowed one run which was unearned.  Hudson struck out two five batters while walking two.

Blaine Boyer and Will Ohman both pitched an inning in relief and did a good enough job not to let any runs score.

Brian McCann had the big hit for the Braves when he hit a three run home run in the fifth inning.  McCann finished the game with three rbi.  Mark Kotsay also finished the game with three rbi as he had two doubles in the game.  Yunel Escobar and Chipper Jones both had one rbi in the game as well.

The Braves are now one game over .500 at 19-18 on the season.  Braves Blog