A packed house turned out on opening night at Turner Field for a look at the revamped Braves and their power-infused lineup. Most got what they came to see.
Freddie Freeman, Dan Uggla and newcomer Justin Upton hit home runs for the Braves in an 7-5 win against the Philadelphia Phillies before an enthusiastic sellout crowd of 51,456.
“Everything kind of fell into place tonight,” said Upton, who hit a solo homer in the fifth inning after Philadelphia cut the lead to 4-3. “It was great that the guys came out swinging the bats well, I was able to contribute and we got a W at the same time. You can’t beat that night.”
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said of his team’s long-ball display: “We can do that. It’s nice to see.”
Craig Kimbrel had one strikeout in a perfect ninth inning for a convincing save to open the season, after some shaky performances by the overpowering Braves closer during spring training and the World Baseball Classic. Ryan Howard flied out to left to end the game.
All of Atlanta’s homers came against Phillies ace Cole Hamels, who was knocked around for five runs in five innings. The Braves hit as many homers against him Monday as they’d hit in 43 innings over Hamels’ past seven starts against them.
“We have the power to go blow-for-blow with anybody,” said Uggla, who struggled through spring training but quieted his critics at least for one night.
Braves veteran Tim Hudson was staked to a 3-0 lead on Freeman’s two-out, two-run homer in the first inning and Uggla’s leadoff homer in the second, which came on a 3-and-0 pitch.
Hudson allowed three baserunners through three scoreless innings before Chase Utley’s leadoff homer in the fourth.
Hudson had a 153-6 career record before Monday when his team scored four or more runs while he was in the game, and a 135-3 record with 26 no-decisions when given a lead of at least three runs. He got no decision Monday, with the win going to Luis Avilan after he bailed out Hudson in the fifth inning.
Freeman had three hits and three RBIs, including a two-out single in the third inning that scored Andrelton Simmons after a leadoff double.
Hudson was charged with three runs, six hits and three walks in 4 1/3 innings. When the veteran appeared to tire in the fifth, he got a big lift from the young left-hander Avilan, who pitched 1-2/3 scoreless innings with one hit and one walk.
After the Philllies loaded the bases against Hudson on two singles and a walk in the fifth, Utley’s two-run single reduced the Braves’ lead to 4-3. In came the 23-year-old Avilan, who struck out Howard for arguably the biggest out of the night.
Avilan intentionally walked Michael Young to re-load the bases and bring up lefty Domonic Brown, who broke his bat on a routine grounder to second base to end the inning as Avilan preserved the lead.
“Luis Avilan did a terrific job in that situation,” Gonzalez said. “Big outs, god-almighty.”
The Braves pushed the lead back to two runs on Upton’s homer in the fifth inning. For the record, it came in the fifth at-bat in his Braves debut for the left fielder and younger brother of new Braves center fielder B.J. Upton.
In the sixth, the Braves added two runs against reliever Chad Durbin, who pitched for Atlanta last season. Uggla drew a leadoff walk and third baseman Chris Johnson doubled before Gerald Laird drove in a run with a bloop single. Another run scored when pinch-hitter Reed Johnson grounded into a double play for a 7-3 lead.
Utley’s third hit of the night was a one-out triple in the seventh off Eric O’Flaherty, who gave up a run when Howard followed with a groundout.
Reliever Jordan Walden looked rough to begin the eighth in his Braves debut. He didn’t pitch much this spring because of a bulging disc in his back and gave up a double, two wild pitches and an RBI single before settling down and getting out of the inning without further damage. He struck out Ben Revere to end the inning.
“He was probably excited,” Gonzalez said. “But he only gave up one run, got some big outs against some tough left-handed hitters. Against (Laynce) Nix and Revere. That’s something surprising, a little bit. He also got Brown, so he got three left-handed hitters out, a right-handed pitcher.”
When the Braves added the Uptons during the offseason — B.J. as a free agent and Justin through a trade that cost them Martin Prado — they did so to have a younger, more athletic team with power up and down the lineup. That’s what they showed Monday, after doing the same during spring training.
The Braves led National League with 49 homers during Grapefruit League play. They did so while drawing the fewest walks, with 73, but had the seventh-most strikeouts with 252 — four more than the Phillies and nine fewer than the Nationals during spring training.
Braves batters struck out eight times Monday.
“We’ve got a lot of power, and we’re not trying to hold back,” Uggla said. “If it cost us some strikeouts in situations, then that’s what it’s going to have to take.”
In the first inning, Freeman’s homer — it followed a Jason Heyward walk and Justin Upton strikeout — was a high-arching shot into the Braves bullpen. Hamels allowed only four homers by lefty batters in 2012.
“Hopefully this is just the beginning,” said Freeman, who has three homers and eight RBIs in his past seven games against the Phillies. “We’ve got a very balanced lineup one through eight, so it’s going to be tough for pitchers to get through us.”
The Braves scored as many runs in the first inning as they scored in their first two games in 2012, when they started the season 0-4 including a sweep by the Mets. They had more homers in the first five innings Tuesday than they had in their first four games combined last season.
