He waited until the figurative September of his career to hit his first home run Wednesday, but Derek Lowe hasn't waited quite until September to turn around his season.
Home runs by 39-year-old Chipper Jones and 38-year-old Lowe staked the Braves to an early lead in a 3-1 win against the Washington Nationals at Turner Field, and closer Craig Kimbrel pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts for his major league rookie-record 41st save.
"That’s a good night all the way around for the Braves," said manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose team ended a two-game skid and remained 7-1/2 behind National League East leader Philadelphia.
The Braves' wild-card lead was nine games over St. L0uis pending the outcome of the Cardinals' late game Wednesday.
"We’re winding down and every win is big," said Lowe (9-12), who had a two-hit shutout and until Michael Morse homered to lead off the seventh inning. "We know where we stand in the division, but you can’t get complacent just because you’ve built yourself a big lead [in the wild-card standings]. You can't just coast.
"You don’t want to hope other people lose. You want to go out there and play like we have all year. The goal is still to try to catch the Phillies.”
Kimbrel, who leads the majors in saves, broke the rookie record of 40 set last season by Neftali Feliz of the Texas Rangers. The Alabama native was pleased to set the record at Turner Field, pushing his scoreless streak to 34 appearances in the process.
“When those two games in New York got cancelled, I started thinking it would be pretty cool to be able to get it at home," said Kimbrel, who has allowed no runs, 12 hits and 10 walks with 59 strikeouts in 33 2/3 innings during his scoreless streak since June 14.
He has converted 23 of 23 save opportunities during that torrid stretch of power pitching. He leads major league relievers in strikeouts by a wide margin with 107 in 65-2/3 innings.
"I’m just going out there each time trying to do my job, not trying to think about what I’ve done in the past or what’s ahead of me," said Kimbrel, 23. "I’m just thinking about outing by outing."
Lowe allowed one run, three hits and two walks in six-plus innings, leaving the game after the Morse homer.
Jones’ second-inning homer off Nationals left-hander John Lannan (8-11) was the 450th for the Braves third baseman, who moved ahead of Jeff Bagwell into sole possession of 34th place on the career list, two behind Carl Yastrzemski.
"Yaz," Jones said, smiling. "My grandfather will be crushed when I pass him. He’s a huge, huge Red Sox fan. When I was growing up, any time the Red Sox were on TV, boy, he was all over Yaz. Loved him.”
Jones put the Braves ahead 1-0 with his 14th homer this season and fourth in his past nine games.
“I’ve got my legs under me now," he said, "and I feel that I can get the bat started and be able to use my legs to get the bat where it needs to be, as opposed to just trying to use all upper body. Hopefully we’ll see a few more fly out before the season’s over.”
Lowe stunned Lannan and a crowd of 20,687 when he led off the third inning with a home run to the left-field bleachers. The lanky pitcher homered on a full-count fastball, after getting ahead in the count 3-0, then taking two called strikes and fouling off two more pitches.
“That was fun, I’m not going to lie to you," Lowe said. "I’ve never hit a home run – ever, since I was a Little Leaguer. That’s the first ball I’ve hit over a fence in 38 years of existence. The home runs I’d hit as a kid, they’d just roll and they’d kick it around. But I’ve never hit a ball, ever, over a fence.”
His first home run came in his 425th major league at-bat, and made Lowe the third pitcher since 1900 to hit his first home run at age 38 or older. Randy Johnson hit his first at age 40 in 2003, and Preacher Roe was 38 when he homered for the first time in 1953.
Lowe is 3-2 with a 3.00 ERA in his past five starts, after going 3-6 with a 6.54 ERA in his previous 10. He has lasted six innings or more in four of his past five, after doing it in just three of his previous 10.
A year ago, he went 3-8 with a 4.60 ERA in his last 16 starts before September. Then he got a shot for an inflamed elbow and missed a start before winning all five of his September starts while posting a 1.17 ERA with 29 strikeouts and three walks in 30 2/3 innings.
The Braves added a run in the third when Dan Uggla beat out a two-out infield hit to score Martin Prado, who had walked and advanced on a wild pitch and groundout.
Matt Diaz went 2-for-3 with two singles in his first game back with the Braves, who got him Wednesday in a trade with Pittsburgh for a player to be named later.
After Lowe got a 3-0 lead, he knew what to do with it. He retired the last 11 batters he faced before the Morse homer, collecting four strikeouts and seven groundouts in that span.
