The Braves finally had themselves a bona-fide big inning Friday night against Milwaukee and looked as if they would cruise to their third consecutive win in the home opener at Turner Field.
But after taking an 8-3 lead with a six-run fifth inning, they needed a two-run, broken-bat single by Dan Uggla in the eighth to lift them to a 10-8 win — their third in a row since an 0-4 start.
"We haven’t been in a slugfest in quite a long time," said Braves catcher Brian McCann, who drove in four runs and matched a career high with four hits, including a three-run homer in the fifth. "Tonight was that, and we came out on the winning side. Some guys put together some really good at-bats today and made pitchers work.”
Martin Prado led off the eighth with a single, and Freddie Freeman walked. After Brian McCann’s ground out advanced both runners, Uggla’s bat exploded when he connected with a Francisco Rodriguez pitch.
The ball bounced into the outfield and both runs scored as an announced crowd of 50,635 roared.
"Yeah, you explode the bat, create a little diversion out there," Uggla joked. “It was just a great game all the way around. Everybody picked each other up. The Brewers just battled until the very last out. It was a fun game. The crowd was awesome. To get the win and come out on top, it was huge.”
Craig Kimbrel struck out Corey Hart with a runner on to end the ninth for his third consecutive save.
“Sometimes our offense is going to win the game and sometimes our pitching is going to win the game," said center fielder Michael Bourn, whose two hits in the fifth inning included a leadoff triple. "It’s a collective effort from all 25 guys. You can’t just point to one thing. We stick by each other. That’s what I like about this team, man. Just because we get down, we don’t think the game is over with."
The Braves haven’t had a starting pitcher record an out in the sixth inning this season, and they haven’t had the kind of sheer dominance from their bullpen that they had for most of last season.
So it wasn’t easy Friday, even after McCann and Matt Diaz hit home runs that drove in five of six runs during a fifth inning that provided a seemingly comfortable five-run lead. But not much has been as it seemed so far this season for the Braves.
The Brewers scored five runs over the next two innings to tie the score, including three runs off Eric O’Flaherty in the seventh.
Starter Jair Jurrjens was charged with five runs in five-plus innings including back-to-back homers by Alex Gonzalez and George Kottares with two out in the second.
"Overall we swung the bats really, really well," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “Our pitching will come around. JJ will be better than he showed today. He left a couple balls over the plate to Gonzo [Alex Gonzalez]. It was the right idea to Gonzo, but he just didn’t get it up high enough. Then the sixth inning we just couldn’t get an out there for him. O’Flaherty, we’ll get him straightened out."
The Braves set season scoring highs for an inning and a game. They scored as many runs as they totaled in their first four games this season — all losses — against the Mets and Astros.
McCann could've had a fifth hit if not for second baseman's diving defensive play on an eighth-inning grounder that advanced two runners, before Uggla drove them in.
"You can never say enough good things about Mac," Uggla said. "He steps up in big situations. He’ll put the team on his back when he needs to. Tonight he was just unstoppable. They had to make a great play to get him out.
“It’s fun to watch him when he’s like that. You see him get locked in."
McCann’s three-run homer off Brewers left-hander Randy Wolf put the Braves ahead 5-3. Diaz followed two batters later with a two-run shot to center that snapped his homerless drought at 138 games and 311 at-bats.
Diaz’s last homer came against the Marlins off the pitcher formerly known as Leo Nunez on Aug. 29, 2010 — he had none last season with the Pirates and Braves.
Bourn added an RBI single in his second time up in the fifth. He had a .125 average and .192 on-base percentage before Friday, and he had been 0-for-15 with no walks against lefties.
“He’s going to do that all year," McCann said. "He’s been doing that his whole career. That’s why he’s one of the best center fielders in the game. He’s going to be there all year. That’s what he does.”
Jurrjens allowed three runs and four hits in five solid innings before running into trouble in the sixth, when he surrendered consecutive singles and a two-run double by Hart to start the inning, trimming the Braves’ lead to 8-5.
Kris Medlen replaced Jurrjens and got through the rest of the inning without further damage, just what the Braves envisioned when they put Medlen in the bullpen instead of the rotation.
One thing no one envisioned was O’Flaherty being shaky.
The lefty setup man had a 0.98 ERA in 2011, the lowest in major league history by a reliever in 75 or more appearances. But O’Flaherty had a streak of 22 consecutive outings snapped when he gave up two runs on Wednesday at Houston.
Things got worse Friday when he allowed three runs and four hits, including Ryan Braun’s two-run single and Hart’s two-out, tying homer. In consecutive appearances he’s given up five earned runs, three fewer than O’Flaherty allowed in the entire 2011 season.
McCann had an RBI double, a single and a three-run homer in three at-bats against Wolf, making him 8-for-15 with two homers and nine RBIs against the veteran.
The Braves played without injured third baseman Chipper Jones, who is 20-for-53 with four homers against Wolf. Jones was to have fluid drained from his surgically repaired left knee Friday and hopes to be back in the lineup at some point this weekend.
“We want Chipper in there; Chipper’s a guy that changes the game, just by his presence," McCann said. "There’s going to be some games this year where we have to play without him, and we’ve got the pieces to do that.”
