Heyward’s five hits help rookie Hale to first win

The Braves have been a profoundly different offensive team with Jason Heyward in the leadoff role, and rookie pitcher David Hale had to be pleased to see Heyward’s name atop the lineup Thursday against the Phillies.

Heyward had a career-high five hits, including a home run and three doubles, and Hale won his first decision in his second major league start with six strong innings in a 7-1 series-opening win for the Braves at Turner Field, which pulled them even with St. Louis for the National League’s best record.

“It was amazing, especially to do it here at home,” said Hale, who had a couple of dozen cans of beer poured over his head by teammates in celebration of his first win. “All of us, since the day we knew what baseball was, dreamed of this moment.”

The Braves hope it wasn’t a costly win, as Brian McCann left in the second inning with a strained right adductor muscle (near the groin). The All-Star catcher was listed as day-to-day, and McCann and the Braves didn’t believe the the injury to be serious and said he should be back no later than the start of postseason play Thursday in the division series.

Heyward had a career-high four extra-base hits before the end of the fifth inning and added a two-out infield single in the seventh inning for the first five-hit game by a Brave since Chipper Jones did it July 3, 2012.

“It’s really nice to be back out there with my teammates, having fun, playing the game, and getting back in the groove,” said Heyward, who went 5-for-5, beat out an infield hit, slid head-first on a double, and generally showed no lingering signs of rust or hesitation from the broken jaw that sidelined him 30 days until he came off the disabled list Friday on the road against the Cubs.

“The timing’s been pretty good,” he said. “I felt like the first few games I was trying to be a little careful. The aggressiveness is coming back swing-wise, really attacking the ball in the zone. Just trying to get good pitches to hit and square them up.”

The Braves clinched home-field advantage for a potential division-series matchup against the Dodgers with the win, coupled with the Dodgers’ loss against the Giants late Thursday.

But the East Division champion Braves are vying for the NL’s best record and top seed, which would mean a division series against the winner of the Wild Card game rather than West champion Los Angeles.

Pitching for the first time since his Sept. 13 debut, Hale allowed seven hits and one run in six innings with no walks and five strikeouts. All of the Marietta native’s strikeouts came in the fourth and fifth innings, including consecutive strikeouts by Domonic Brown and Darin Ruf with two on to end the fifth.

“(Heyward) has been bouncing around since he came back in Chicago,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “Three doubles, a home run and a single. It’s going to overshadow David Hale’s performance a little bit and what he did for us. Gave us six strong innings, gave up one run, struck out five and we’ll see him again in (13) days.”

Gonzalez was joking in reference to the long layoff since Hale last pitched, but said he wouldn’t rule out using him in the postseason if the Braves have a need due to injury or otherwise.

In Hale’s spot start against the Padres nearly two weeks ago, he opened a lot of eyes while striking out nine — a franchise record for a big-league debut — in five scoreless innings. He left that game with a 3-0 lead, but got no decision after the bullpen gave up four runs in the seventh and eighth innings of a 4-3 Braves loss.

The lead was much bigger this time, thanks in large part to Heyward, who homered on the first pitch thrown by Phillies starter Tyler Cloyd (2-7).

“There’s no hesitation,” Gonzalez said of Heyward’s play in the past week. “(Three) days ago he dove at a ball coming in, he challenged the wall a couple days ago. He’s running around, no problem swinging the bat, timing is getting there, so it’s good to see all that.”

The day after Heyward moved to the leadoff role in late July, the Braves began an 18-4 surge in which they averaged 5.2 runs and he batted .357 with six doubles, five homers, 15 RBIs. Then he had his jaw broken by a fastball from the Mets’ Jonathon Niese on Aug. 21, and the Braves went 13-13 while averaging 3.1 runs over 26 games without him.

Since Heyward came off the disabled list Friday, the Braves are 4-1 with a .283 batting average and 24 runs in five games he’s started, and 0-2 with a .119 batting average and one run in two games without him in the lineup. Gonzalez said before Friday’s game that after easing Heyward back in, he planned to play him all four games in this season-ending series.

Heyward’s homer was his 14th and third leadoff homer this season, and his first homer since having two plates surgically attached to his broken jaw and a protective guard attached to the right ear flap of his batting helmet.

Elliot Johnson followed with a single, stole second base — his 22nd steal in 23 attempts this season, and eighth as a Brave — and scored on Freddie Freeman’s double, which gave him 107 RBIs.

Evan Gattis’ RBI single to center gave the Braves a 3-0 lead before Cloyd struck out McCann for the first out. The Braves weren’t done scoring in the inning: Chris Johnson doubled to drive in a run, and Jordan Schafer hit a two-out single to push the lead to 5-0, which was as many runs as the Braves had scored in 10 of their past 11 games.

After the Phillies got a run in the second inning on two singles and two ground outs, the Braves resumed their barrage against Cloyd when Heyward led off the second by hustling and sliding head-first for a double on a shallow fly ball.

Elliot Johnson and Freeman walked to load the bases with none out for Gattis, who lined a double off the left-field wall to give the Braves a 7-1 lead. That was all for Cloyd, who left with none out in the second inning after allowing eight hits, seven runs and two walks.