Hanson handed first loss

By CARROLL ROGERS

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Milwaukee — Tommy Hanson got his first taste of the majors against the Brewers, and Saturday night he got his first major-league loss against them.

The lineup that homered three times off of him in his debut managed only two runs in seven innings against him Saturday, but without any run support, Hanson’s five-game winning streak was snapped in a 4-0 defeat.

His counterpart Yovani Gallardo pitched 7-1/3 scoreless innings, this after throwing eight shutout innings against the Braves in June. He is now 2-0 with an 0.80 ERA in three career starts against them.

He joined Johan Santana and Barry Zito as the only pitchers to stop the Braves’ offense in its tracks since the All-Star break. The Braves lost for only the third time in 10 games since then and fell to 6-1/2 games behind the Phillies, who beat the Cardinals on Saturday afternoon.

The night after amassing a season-high 17 hits, the Braves were held to only four, one in each of the first four innings. They were shut out for the 10th time this season, including the third time by the Brewers.

“[Gallardo] did a great job tonight, kept us all off-balance,” said Brian McCann, who went 1-for-4 with a double, the Braves’ only extra-base hit. “He kind of did what he wanted.”

Gallardo shut down an offense that had averaged 6.3 runs over their previous nine games.

The Braves hit a couple of balls hard off him early but didn’t have anything to show for it after hitting into two double plays in the first three innings and watching Martin Prado strand two runners on a hard-hit liner in the fifth.

“Prado hit a bullet right at [Felipe] Lopez at second,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said. “If that gets through, Chipper [Jones] and Mac are coming up. That was the turning point for the offense right there ... [but] Gallardo was outstanding. The guy pitched a great game. We had a couple chances, and that’s about all you get.”

Gallardo kept the Braves guessing, as evidenced by the curveballs he used to strike Jones out looking twice and McCann once.

“Today he used a lot of his off-speed pitches, was able to throw them for strikes,” McCann said. “He’s sneaky. He’s one of those guys that you don’t see the ball that well off of. He throws 94 [mph], and he’s got three pitches.”

Hanson kept it close for seven innings before a three-walk inning by Eric O’Flaherty in the eighth helped put it away. Brewers rookie Casey McGehee capitalized with a two-run single off Manny Acosta with the bases loaded.

Hanson needed to be nearly perfect to beat Gallardo and wasn’t. After striking out 11 in his previous outing, he struck out only one Saturday.

Gallardo made him pay for a leadoff single and a walk in the fifth inning by chopping a single over Jones, who was in on the grass, to drive in the first run. That helped load the bases for Craig Counsell, who was his usual pest against the Braves, driving in the second run on a swinging bunt for a groundout.

That was it against Hanson, who fell to 5-1 while lowering his ERA to 2.95. Still recovering from the effects of the flu that saw him drop 12 pounds this week, Hanson pitched seven solid innings, giving up nine hits but limiting the damage to the two-run fifth.

“I felt good out there,” Hanson said. “Their guy just outdueled me a little bit.”