It's still too early in the season to say just how good these Braves can be but they provided some clues during opening their home stand.
The latest example was their 5-1 victory over the Cubs Sunday at Turner Field. Atlanta completed a three-game sweep before starting a six-game road trip Monday in Miami.
Slugging first baseman Freddie Freeman was on the disabled list. Lead-off hitter Andrelton Simmons was out, too. The Braves struck out 16 times and couldn't do anything against Cubs right-hander Jeff Samardzija for five-plus innings.
Yet the Braves won for the fifth time in six games because they got key hits from part-time third baseman Juan Francisco and fill-in shortstop Ramiro Pena as well as a strong outing from starting pitcher Tim Hudson.
“They are resilient,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said of his players. “We find a way to win ball games. I think the constant, which is a good thing, is going to be our pitching and our defense.”
Hudson and Atlanta's defense held the Cubs down until Braves hitters broke through against Samardzija.
Samardzija recorded a career-high 13 strikeouts but the Braves got to him for three runs in the sixth inning. Hudson ended up being more effective than Samardzija after Chicago's right-hander recorded 11 of his first 13 outs by way of strikeouts.
Hudson (1-0) allowed just three hits and a run allowed over 6 2/3 innings. The Cubs scored against him in the first inning but from there then managed just two hits and five base runners against him, with one batter reaching on an error.
Samardzija (1-1) was a two-sport star at Notre Dame, where he set school records as a wide receiver in football and was rated by Baseball America as the 20th-best prospect. Samardzija started opening day against the Pirates and allowed just two hits over eight scoreless innings.
Samardzija allowed just two hits through 5 2/3 innings before the Braves finally got to him.
The Braves tied the game 1-1 in the fifth inning on Samardzija's wild pitch. Samardzija got out of the inning by striking out Jason Heyward, began his sixth by striking out Upton and had two outs when Francisco came to the plate.
Francisco singled on a hard grounder that got past shortstop Starlin Castro and moved Dan Uggla to second. The Braves loaded the bases in the sixth when Samardzija hit Chris Johnson with a pitch.
Samardzija vehemently argued the call with home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez and appeared rattled after that. Pena followed with a two-out single that scored two runs and Hudson drove in another run with a hit that bounced off the glove of leaping second baseman Alberto Gonzalez into the outfield.
“It's one of those things where (Samardzija's) pitch count was getting up there and he knew he probably was getting close to being out of the game,” Hudson said. “For a starting pitcher you want to eliminate opportunities that late in the game and that opened the door for us a little bit. It was a close pitch; whether it hit (Johnson) or not I haven't seen any replays. It was an opportunity for us and we were able take advantage of it.”
Samardzija was done and the Braves were en route to the sweep.
"Maybe it was just a matter of fatigue or maybe we just put some good at-bats (together) in that inning when we scored some runs because we really had no chance against him early," Gonzalez said.
Braves second baseman Dan Uggla added a lead-off home run against Hisanori Takahashi in the eighth inning. Braves hitters have recorded 63 strikeouts in 189 at-bats with 20 walks through six games but have hit 11 home runs and scored 31 runs.
“We don't worry about the strikeouts,” Uggla said. “That's everybody else around that looks at the batting average and the strikeouts. When it comes down to it, it's about run production. You can strike out 20 times and as long as you get a good outing from the pitcher and a three-run bomb, you won the game.”
