PHILADELPHIA – In danger of losing their fourth straight series to the Phillies dating back to last September, the Braves introduced a new weapon to the mix – Jair Jurrjens.
Jurrjens had been itching to get at the Phillies since a knee injury forced him to abort a start last September at Citizens Bank Park and it showed.
Buoyed by the support of three home runs, and followed by three innings of narrow escapes by the Braves bullpen, Jurrjens held off the Phillies in a 5-2 win.
The Braves sweated it out after putting seven runners aboard in the final three innings, including the tying run in both the eighth and ninth, but they escaped with the series, winning two out of three. They headed back to Atlanta 3 ½ games behind the Phillies, having won seven of eight overall.
“I think that’s the team to beat in the National League,” Jurrjens said. “It’s always exciting to go against the best team, especially facing one of the aces.”
Jurrjens out-dueled Cole Hamels, the Phillies hottest starter, to bring the Braves their first series win against the Phillies since last July 5-7. That was also the last time Jurrjens pitched against the class of the NL East.
But Jurrjens has been the hottest pitcher on a pretty successful Braves staff in their own right.
He allowed only one run in 6 2/3 innings and is now 4-0 with a 1.50 ERA in five starts since returning from an oblique injury.
“The biggest thing I see with JJ is he’s competing,” Chipper Jones said. “…JJ is competing and we all feed off that.”
He did it Sunday without his best fastball. He was topping out at 90 mph, rather than his usual 92 or 93.
“I didn’t have my velocity like I normally have,” Jurrjens said. “I threw more sinkers today. I made my adjustments during the game. I felt like my fastball didn’t have that run like I wanted it to, then I threw more two-seamers and had the guys hit it on the ground. I changed my grip to the Jonny Venters grip and it’s been working.”
Jurrjens got a 2-0 lead to work with in the second inning on a two-run homer by Alex Gonzalez and a big lift from rookie Freddie Freeman. Freeman had a career-high three hits, including his fourth home run of the season.
Freeman wore pink cleats on Mother’s Day in honor of his mother Rosemary, who died of melanoma when Freeman was 10. He got to show them off trotting around the bases after his fifth inning home run off Hamels.
“I know she’s proud,” Freeman said. “I wore all the pink I could to honor her today. I wore the necklace, wrist band and shoes. I’m going to give them to Melanoma Skin Cancer Awareness and they can auction it off.”
Freeman and Gonzalez added nice infield plays to complement their home run balls, and Jurrjens got in on the act charging off the mound to retrieve a Wilson Valdez sacrifice bunt in the sixth. Jurrjens’ escaped the first-and-third, one-out threat, on a double play turn by Gonzalez and Dan Uggla.
Those two turned another one in the seventh behind Eric O’Flaherty, who has retired eight of eight inherited runners this season.
Gonzalez had to leave the game after seven innings with a slight groin strain but thinks with the off day Monday he should return Tuesday or Wednesday.
Venters came on in relief in the eighth and allowed his first run since April 3, breaking up a streak of 17 2/3 scoreless innings. After giving up three hits, he coaxed a flyball to deep center from Wilson Valdez, who represented the tying run with runners first and second.
Eric Hinske’s two-run pinch hit home run in the top of the eighth provided just the cushion the Braves needed to survive a wobbly ninth inning by Craig Kimbrel. He escaped with his eighth save of the season despite allowing two runners to reach.
“Let’s get out here before they keep asking us to play another inning,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.
