Fresh off a series win over the Phillies, the Braves didn’t want to explain a letdown loss to the Astros in Monday night’s series opener at Turner Field.
Still, after having taken two of three from the team with the best record in the National League, the Braves had to rally to beat the team with the league’s worst record, holding on for a 3-2 victory.
In the process, they rewarded Tommy Hanson for a dominant effort in which he struck out 10 batters, one off his career high, and gave up two runs in seven innings, just one earned. They also gained a game on the Phillies, who lost Monday night to the Cardinals. The Braves now trail by 2 1/2 games in the N.L. East, the closest they've been since April 12.
"We got a little bit of momentum this past weekend against the Phillies," said Hanson, now 5-3 with a 2.35 ERA. "We just wanted to try to keep rolling."
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez encouraged his players in a meeting before the game to keep the energy up, and Eric Hinske led the way by going 3-for-4 and driving in the game-winning run in the seventh.
“He told us before the game ‘Hey, don’t take these guys lightly,’” Hinske said. “’They’re a good team, keep running the bases hard, keep going at it like we have been.’”
Hinske took the manager at his word, bunting for a base hit in the third, and going from first to third on a single by Alex Gonzalez in the sixth inning. Both scored on Joe Mather’s two-run single to put the Braves up 2-1 in the sixth.
Hinske was playing his fifth game in six days for the injured Jason Heyward. He and Mather, filling in for the injured Chipper Jones, drove in the Braves' three runs.
"We’re just trying to fill in for the guys that are down right now, really," Hinske said. "It’s a good chance for us to get some at-bats and try to help the team win."
The Braves went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position against Astros starter Brett Myers, and left the bases loaded twice in the first two innings, but they just kept coming until they broke through. The Braves put two more runners aboard on walks from reliever Fernando Abad in the seventh, and Hinske put the Braves up 3-2 with his game-deciding single to right to score Nate McLouth.
“Myers did a good job of throwing off-speed pitches when he was in trouble,” Hinske said. “I went up there with the bases loaded in my first at-bat and he threw me five curveballs in a row and had good command of them. Not much you can do when he’s doing that. I ended up getting some pitches to hit later on and then doing the job.”
Hanson won for the fourth time in his past five starts. The Astros have scored only three earned runs in 30 innings off him for his career. He’s now 2-0 with a 0.90 ERA in four starts against them.
Martin Prado, who’d saved Hanson from a run-scoring hit with a clutch play up the line in the first inning, cost him a run in the seventh. He threw wildly to put the tying run at second base with nobody out, and watched as the Astros tied the game with only their third hit off Hanson.
Matt Downs doubled to tie it 2-2 with a two-out gapper, after hitting a solo home run off Hanson in the fifth for the Astros’ only other run.
“I fell behind him a couple times and he made me pay,” Hanson said. “Other than that I felt good with everything.”
Craig Kimbrel came on to collect his 11th save in 14 chances, pitching for the third day in a row and fifth time in six days. He had to go through the heart of the Astros’ order first and gave up a one-out single to Carlos Lee but he struck out the side.
Hanson singled off Myers in the fourth inning to extend a hitting streak by Braves pitchers to four games. Cristhian Martinez started it with a two-run double off Cole Hamels on Friday night. Jair Jurrjens, Tim Hudson and Hanson have each followed with singles.
