After two punchless weekend performances against Philadelphia, the Braves rediscovered their offense Tuesday night against Florida and finally gave Tommy Hanson some support.
Too bad so few were there to see it.
Jason Heyward and Brian McCann hit long home runs, and Hanson pitched seven strong innings in a 5-0 series-opening win over the Marlins at Turner Field before the smallest crowd (13,865) in the ballpark’s 14-season history.
Chipper Jones had two RBIs to raise his career total to 1,499 and help Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez win his first regular-season game against Florida since the Marlins fired him in June.
“We did a little bit of everything tonight," Jones said. "We hit the long ball. We got some big two-out clutch hits, played some small ball. We pitched outstanding, and the defense was off the charts.”
The win was the second in seven games for the Braves (5-6) and the fourth for Hanson (1-2) in 23 starts dating to last summer. The right-hander limited the Marlins to four hits and two walks with five strikeouts.
"I just wanted to go in this game and be aggressive, and it worked out," said Hanson, who worked around leadoff doubles in the second and fifth innings. "I felt really good. The defense was unbelievable today. Ton of great plays out there. And we scored some runs.
"It was an all-around great win.”
The Braves snapped a 17-inning scoreless streak in the third on Nate McLouth’s two-out RBI double to the warning track in right-center. McLouth also had a sacrifice bunt in the two-run fifth and made a running catch just in front of the outfield wall with a runner at first base in the seventh.
“Gonzo [shortstop Alex Gonzalez] was unbelievable defensively," Fredi Gonzalez said. "I think he was showing off there a little bit at the end. Nate running that ball down in center field -- that’s a big out there. Kept Tommy in the game. And we got some timely hitting.”
McLouth’s double was the second of three consecutive two-out hits by the top of the Braves’ order in the third inning, sandwiched between Martin Prado’s single and Jones’ RBI single.
Jones added a sacrifice fly in the two-run fifth inning to leave him one RBI shy of becoming the second switch-hitter in major league history with at least 2,500 hits and 1,500 RBIs. He would join Eddie Murray in a fraternity of two.
“It’s exactly what [the lineup] is capable of doing," said Braves second baseman Dan Uggla, who had a double in four at-bats in his first game against the team that traded him in November. "We started kind of slow with the home runs, but that’s going to turn around here pretty quick, I think. And with Nate and Prado at the top of the lineup, moving around the basepaths, there’s going to be a lot of opportunity for sac flies.
"We can get runners in that way, too. Then you’ve got big boppers coming up, Heyward, Mac and Chipper. Freddie, Gonzo. It’s a good, balanced lineup.”
The Braves had gone four games without a homer before Heyward crushed a low-arching shot to straightaway center field in the fourth inning for a 3-0 lead. It was his third of the season and came on a 2-0 pitch from Chris Volstad (0-3).
McCann added a two-out homer off Volstad in the fifth inning, the first extra-base hit of the season for the 2010 Silver Slugger Award-winning catcher.
Hanson faced the minimum three batters in four different innings including the first, when he set the tone by striking out Chris Coghlan to start the game and struck out Hanley Ramirez to end the inning. He threw 58 strikes in 98 pitches.
Hanson was 3-10 in his past 22 starts, despite a 3.49 ERA in that span. The Braves provided a measly 2.7 runs per nine innings that he pitched in those 22 games, and scored two or fewer runs while he was in 16 of them.
When asked if it was nice to get some run support for Hanson, Fredi Gonzalez smiled and said, "Yeah, and for the manager, too. Nice to see the lineup score some runs like we’re capable of doing. Hopefully we get a nice little run going now.”
Hanson came in with a 6.00 ERA in two starts this season. But against the Marlins, he looked like the Hanson the Braves were used to seeing in the past, pumping 93-94 mph fastballs for strikes and complementing them with breaking balls and change-ups.
In their previous seven games, the Braves had hit .216 and totaled 16 runs. They had one homer during the 1-5 skid before Tuesday.
The Braves provided not just support on offense for Hanson, but their best glovework of the season. Gonzalez made a couple of memorable plays, and Uggla covered a lot of ground to make a running catch in foul territory.
