Braves drop 5th game in a row

By CARROLL ROGERS

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

With the Braves losing their grip on any hopes of making the playoffs, Kenshin Kawakami lost his grip on a fastball.

Kawakami hit Reds pitcher Micah Owings in the left earflap of his helmet with a 92 mph fastball in the 12th inning Sunday that dropped the Gainesville native to the ground.

As bad a scene as it was, with Owings moaning in pain, the crowd of about 33,000 at Turner Field still, trainers and staff gathering, it also brought home the winning run in a 4-2 game that completed a three-game sweep by the Reds.

The Braves face that the prospect now it might have completed their chances at the wild card. While losing five in a row, they’ve fallen from three to seven games behind the Rockies.

After a day off Monday, the Braves open a six-game trip in Houston. They have only 25 games to play this season.

“We need to just about sweep on the road to get back in this thing,” said Braves manager Bobby Cox, which is about as close as he’ll come to admitting they’re not.

It was a stunning way to end a stunning series, especially after the Braves had led 2-1 behind seven strong innings from Tim Hudson and a go-ahead homer from David Ross. Hudson allowed only one run in his first start at Turner Field and second overall since returning from elbow reconstruction surgery.

But his lead disappeared when Drew Stubbs homered off Mike Gonzalez with two outs in the eighth inning to tie it 2-2 and give the Reds new life on the way to their seventh win in a row.

Kawakami, who was making his second appearance since the Braves moved him to the bullpen, walked Joey Votto to lead off the 12th, in his second inning of work. After Votto took third on Scott Rolen’s single, Kawakami walked another to load the bases for Owings.

The best hitting pitcher in the game, with a .296 average and eight career homers, swung and missed an 0-1 pitch.

“We were trying to go fastball up because he swung through the one before, and it just ran on him, up and in,” Ross said. “Right out of his hand, I was screaming, ‘Look out.’ It was coming right for him. There was nothing he could have done.”

Owings said even without late afternoon shadows, he wouldn’t have been able to get out of the way.

“I barely saw it out of his hand,” Owings, who received four stitches in his ear, told the Dayton Daily News. “I’m not in pain. It’s just numb, and I can’t hear out of my left ear. Caught me off guard. I’m a pitcher, so I know it can happen. The ball can slip out of your hand.”

Owings, who was told the hearing loss is temporary, was advised not to fly for a few days. Rather than head to Denver with the Reds, he’ll spend time at home in Gainesville. He parents, sister and brother-in-law were at the game Sunday.

The play shook up Kawakami, who moved closer to the plate to see how Owings was.

“I saw some blood,” Kawakami said through an interpreter. “It’s the worst place to hit a person, in the head. Of course, I was very scared for him.”

Overall, it was another frustrating day for the Braves’ offense. They scored only four runs in the series.

“The finished product may not look to people like we’re doing our job, but sometimes this game has a way of humbling all of us,” said Chipper Jones, who was out of the lineup with a sore abdomen. “It’s humbling all of us at the same time right now.”

Hudson took something to build on, though. He had better command of his sinker than his first start back Tuesday in Florida. He recorded nine groundouts and finished his day by retiring 13 batters in a row.

“It’s a tough one to swallow, especially after David hit us that homer to put us ahead 2-1,” Hudson said. “That’s a hot team over there. When hot teams come in, you’ve got to bear down until the very end.”