PHILADELPHIA – Emilio Bonifacio led off Sunday’s season finale with a homer against Cole Hamels, which gave the Braves one more hit and one more run than they had in the entire game when faced the Phillies pitcher on Sept. 1.
And so, the last game started well for the Braves, who added another run in the second inning and then watched James Russell and four fellow relievers make the lead stand for a 2-1 win at Citizens Bank Park that gave Atlanta its only series win in a terrible September that eliminated its playoff hopes.
“It’s going to be a nice flight going home,” said beleaguered Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. “It’s a two-game winning streak, and hopefully when the (2015) season starts back around we can pick that up. Because you’re absolutely right, it’s been hard. It’s been difficult.”
It was the 64 time the inept Braves offense scored two or fewer runs this season, and only the ninth win in those instances.
The Braves put a lid on a rather dispiriting season by winning consecutive games for the first time since late August. They went 7-18 in September and finished the season in a second-place tied with the Mets in the NL East, two games ahead of the Marlins and 18 behind the division champion Nationals.
Craig Kimbrel converted his 26th consecutive save opportunity by striking out the last three batters after a leadoff single in the ninth inning, giving him a National League-leading 47 saves for the season. He has led the NL in saves or at least tied for the lead in all four of his seasons as a closer.
Coincidentally, Kimbrel’s save was the 186th of his career to move him into a tie for 55th place with former Rangers reliever Jeff Russell, James’ father.
Russell performed admirably in an emergency start after Alex Wood was scratched Saturday with forearm tightness. The left-hander pitched four scoreless innings of two-hit ball with one walk and four strikeouts.
“I had some fun with it,” Russell said. “They gave me a chance, might as well go out and show them what I can do, try and prove something to somebody.”
In the first inning, Russell gave up a leadoff single to Ben Revere and a two-out walk to Ryan Howard that put runners on the corners. But he got Marlon Byrd to ground into a force to end the inning and begin a stretch in which Russell recorded 10 outs in the last 10 batters he faced.
That included a double-play grounder by Revere after Hamels’ leadoff siugle in the third inning.
“The job that James Russell did today, and our bullpen, was just unbelievable,” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “Russell, to only be told last night that you’re starting, and to do that today and give us four innings — it’s a big deal, and it’s just nice to end on a positive note going into the offseason.”
Russell was 0-5 with a 9.33 ERA in his only previous five major league starts, all in 2011 when the left-hander was with the Cubs. The Braves got both him and Bonifacio from Chicago a July 31 trade-deadline deal.
“I’ve always had confidence in myself in starting,” Russell said. “It’s always something that I’ve wanted to do. It just never really worked out in Chicago. I asked them all the time, but they saw more value in me as a reliever. I was happy to get the opportunity today.
“It’s a fun way to end the season. It’s a shame we couldn’t make a better push for the playoffs, but we still had fun in game 162.”
Russell didn’t pitch the minimum five innings required for a starter to get a win, and Luis Avilan (4-1) was awarded the decision by the official scorer. Avilan pitched the fifth and sixth and gave up one hit, hit a batter, and struck out two.
Hamels combined with three relievers for a no-hitter against the Braves on Sept. 1 at Turner Field, and the veteran lefty was 4-0 with a 0.97 ERA and .140 opponents’ average in his past five starts against Atlanta before Sunday.
He was his usual dominant self for all but the first four batters Sunday, but the group effort from Russell and Co. came out on top. The Phillies didn’t score until the eighth inning, when David Carpenter allowed consecutive singles to start the inning and Ben Revere grounded into a double play that brought in a run.
Hamels gave up two runs, three hits and a walk in the first inning before recording an out. Then he allowed no other Brave to reach base except Joey Terdoslavich, whom he hit with a pitch with two outs in the seventh inning.
Avilan hit Chase Utley with a pitch in the sixth, so warnings were issued by the home-plate umpire after Hamels hit Terdoslavich.
For the Braves, there was no scoring threat after the first four batters of the game. But that initial two-run burst proved to be enough.
After Bonifacio led off with a homer for the second time in his career and first time since 2011, Phil Gosselin walked, stole second base and scored on Freeman’s single.
“Everybody’s happy that that’s the last game of the season,” Freeman said, “but everybody’s happy that we won, too. Take that into the offseason. Winning series, that’s something that we haven’t really done lately. It’s a nice win going into the offseason. Everybody seemed to be out there playing hard till the end of the season, and that’s what you want to do.”
