Hudson, Heyward lead shutout against Pirates

By David O'Brien

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

PITTSBURGH -- After staging one of the more remarkable and exhilarating comebacks in franchise history Thursday, the Braves wanted to be sure not to ease off the throttle Friday on manager Bobby Cox's birthday.

No worries.

Tim Hudson pitched eight innings of three-hit ball as the Braves kept their May machine rumbling with a 7-0 rout of the Pirates at PNC Park, with homers from Jason Heyward and Brian McCann highlighting the offense.

"It's good to keep momentum going, keep playing good baseball," Heyward said after helping the Braves move to second place in the National League East, a half-game ahead of Florida. "Tonight it was good to get out ahead early and let Huddy go out there and relax and pitch well like he has been."

On Cox's 69th birthday, the Braves notched their ninth win in 11 games and improved to 14-6 since a nine-game losing streak. They've been the league's highest-scoring team in May, with 111 runs in 19 games.

The Braves are 16-6 in games on Cox's birthday while he has managed the team.

"It was a good day," Cox said. "Nothing better than winning like we did yesterday and winning again today."

On Thursday, the Braves scored seven runs in the ninth inning to pull out a nearly unfathomable 10-9 win against Cincinnati for a two-game sweep of the Reds at Turner Field.

"It's kind of inspiring to win a game like we did yesterday," Cox said. "That gets you on rolls. Hopefully we'll have another well-pitched game tomorrow and win again."

The Braves have a four-game road winning streak that began with a sweep at Milwaukee, which turned their last trip into a 5-4 success after rough stops at Washington and Philadelphia. They've played their best ball since then.

Chipper Jones' first-inning RBI single and Heyward's two-run homer in the third provided ample run support for Hudson (5-1), who continued a month-long tear that has demonstrated he's back all the way from ligament-transplant elbow surgery that sidelined him for most of the 2009 season.

"My sinker felt good," said Hudson, who allowed three singles and four walks while moving to 4-0 with a 1.57 ERA in five May starts. "Once we were able to get a little bit of a lead, I was able to really try to pound the strike zone with it and not be so fine.

"For a starting pitcher, an early lead of three or four runs is like heaven sent. You're able to go out there and really take the game to ‘em, be aggressive."

Hudson has allowed one or no runs in four of his May starts and pitched eight innings in each of the past two.

Left-hander Eric O'Flaherty allowed a single and a walk  in the ninth before completing the four-hit shutout, the Braves' first shutout win  (they lost six, most of them in April when they were one of baseball's worst hitting teams).

Hudson also had an RBI single in the three-run fourth inning, giving the veteran right-hander hits in five of his past six starts and a .300 batting average in his past 18 starts dating to the 2008 season.

Heyward had an RBI double and a two-run homer, and McCann continued his resurgence as the Braves (22-20) moved to two games over .500 for the first time since they were 8-6.

McCann has hit .333 with three homers and six RBIs in his past nine games, after batting .229 with two homers and nine RBIs in his first 27 games.

Since Cox sat Heyward for one game April 28 at St. Louis and said he needed to stop taking so many pitches, the 2o-year-old phenom has hit .367 (22-for-60) with six doubles, a triple, four homers and 17 RBIs in 18 games. He has had two three-hit games in the past three days.

Heyward leads the Braves with nine homers and 33 RBIs and came within two feet of his 10th homer when he drove a ball off the top of the high right-field wall. No other major league rookie had more than four homers before Friday.