Cameron Maybin hit just the second home run for the Braves in 14 games, but the run that allowed them to end their Dodger Stadium skid Wednesday night scored without a bat being swung.
Andrelton Simmons snapped a 1-1 tie by scoring in the eighth inning on a two-out wild pitch by Dodgers left-hander Adam Liberatore, sending the Braves to a 3-2 win to avert a sweep and end a seven-game Dodger Stadium losing streak.
Freddie Freeman drew a walk on that wild pitch and Nick Markakis followed with an opposite-field, ground-rule double to give the bullpen a little cushion — which it would need — en route to the Braves’ second win in 10 games against the Dodgers since the beginning of the 2014 season.
“It’s a huge win,” Maybin said. “These guys have been playing great baseball this month. So to leave here getting a win, especially with a guy like (Zack) Greinke on the mound, we’ve got to be excited about going to San Francisco. They’re another team that’s playing good baseball, so it doesn’t get any easier. But it’s a good way to finish up here in L.A.”
Alex Wood (3-2) outdueled Greinke by pitching seven innings of one-run ball for the Braves, who’ve won eight of 12 games and open a four-game series Thursday at San Francisco, the second stop on a three-city, 10-game trip.
“This is a tough place to play,” said Wood, who showed no signs of rust despite missing his last start with a stomach virus and going 11 days between outings. “They’ve got a tough ballclub, leading their division, and going up against a guy like Greinke, it was a really good team win tonight.”
Jason Grilli gave up a one-out homer to Alex Guerrero in the ninth inning and a single to Andre Ethier before converting his 14th save in 15 opportunities, getting pinch-hitter Alberto Callaspo to fly out to end the game with a runner at first. The Braves traded Callaspo to the Dodgers late Tuesday in the six-player deal that brought third baseman Juan Uribe.
It was Uribe who made a strong throw to second base for the second out of the ninth, after bobbling A.J. Ellis’ hard-hit grounder.
Wood pitched just as well and longer than Greinke (six innings). Despite the layoff between starts, Wood was sharp while allowing seven hits, one run and two walks with six strikeouts in seven innings.
“Mechanically, and it terms of all my stuff, it was no doubt the best it’s been (all season),” Wood said. “Now it’s just about repeating. Hopefully it’s a good starting point.”
After lasting fewer than six innings in three of his five April starts while posting a 4.05 ERA for the month, Wood is 2-1 with a 2.88 ERA in four May starts and has worked at least 6 2/3 innings in each of the past three.
“We skip him on a start because he has a stomach illness, you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “But he got his strength. I think it helped that it was a beautiful, cool night. Shoot, he was seven innings giving up one run, and was really effective with his pitches.
“It was a good one to win. You come in here and look at the starters they’re running at you this series. To beat Greinke in the last game after losing two, that shows you what our club’s all about.”
Simmons led off the eighth inning with a single and Todd Cunningham, pinch-hitting for Wood, drew a walk to put the Braves in prime scoring position. After Jace Peterson grounded into a force, Maybin’s fly ball to center wasn’t deep enough for the Braves to send Simmons. But the two-out wild pitch to Freeman did the trick, as Simmons took off immediately when the pitch sailed past Ellis to the backstop.
After the Braves wasted a bases-loaded opportunity in the first inning, Maybin gave them a 1-0 lead in the third inning with a long home run to the left-field bleachers. It was the fifth of the season for the wiry center fielder in his 132nd plate appearance, putting Maybin halfway to surpassing his career high of nine homers in 568 plate appearances with the 2011 Padres.
The Dodgers answered with a run in the fourth, a run that was initially unearned after Jimmy Rollins reached on an error by Uribe in his Braves debut. The ruling was changed a couple of innings later to a hit, the scorer deciding that Uribe had covered an unusual amount of ground to get to the ball before it bounced off his glove.
Uribe fielded it just in front of strong-armed shortstop Andrelton Simmons, but with Rollins running it would’ve been a difficult play for anyone. Wood struck out the next batter, but a groundout advanced Rollins to second, and he scored when Justin Turner hit a ground-ball single that glanced off the glove of second baseman Jace Peterson when he ranged to his left and slid trying to field it beyond the infield fringe.
Uribe received a standing ovation from the Dodger Stadium crowd when he came up with the bases loaded and one out in the first inning. There was another ovation from the Dodger faithful when he struck out on a high fastball from Greinke for the second out, and a louder one when A.J. Pierzynski followed by striking out looking on a pitch that Pierzynski believed to be off the plate.
The Braves also got a one-out single from Simmons in the second inning before Wood bunted into an inning-ending double play.
After Maybin’s homer in the third, Greinke retired the last 11 batters he faced, lasting six innings and allowing just three hits, one run and two walks with nine strikeouts. He sliced a bit more off his ERA, whittling it to 1.48, but Greinke left with the score tied.
Wood kept pitching for another inning, sticking around long enough to get a win when the Braves scored two runs in the eighth.
