This time, Tim Hudson didn’t have to worry about leaving before the final out.
He pitched a one-hit masterpiece Wednesday night against Milwaukee in an 8-0 win that gave the Braves a doubleheader sweep of the Brewers, and earned Hudson his first complete-game win since 2008. Atlanta won 8-3 in the opener.
Hudson pitched 8 2/3 innings in a 5-2 win at San Francisco on April 23, but was pulled after the Giants got two hits and a run in the ninth, his pitch count at 113.
On Wednesday, he threw 102 pitches and recorded 27 outs, allowing one hit and one walk with six strikeouts in his 24th complete game and 12th shutout.
"You’re going to have nights where you feel really good, and tonight was one of those nights," said Hudson, who fired first-pitch strikes to 26 of 29 batters and notched his third one-hit shutout and first since 2006.
"You feel like you have good stuff, you’re locating it, throwing strikes with it, and the guys behind you are making plays. All in all, it was a perfect night.”
Rickie Weeks had a double in the fourth inning and a walk in the ninth. No one else reached base against Hudson (4-2).
Nate McLouth had five hits and three walks in eight plate appearances in the doubleheader, including a two-run homer in the second game as the Braves won for the ninth time in 12 games.
"It was a good day all around for the Braves," said manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose team improved to 17-15, the Braves' first time at two games over .500 since they were 3-1 on April 4.
It was their second doubleheader sweep at home this season, the other against the New York Mets on April 16.
"I can’t remember the last time there was a game for me that was this nice," said Hudson, who improved to 2-0 with a 1.52 ERA in his past three starts.
“I hadn’t seen him for a while," said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke, who spent 11 seasons as a coach with the Angels and saw Hudson when he was a 20-game winner for the Oakland Athletics. "Today was what I used to see when he was way back in Oakland. He had good velocity on his fastball, tremendous movement down, which he always used to have. He threw an outstanding game.”
Tommy Hanson won his third consecutive start in the first game, and McLouth had his hands on things all day and night from the eighth position in the order.
“I’m trying to turn the order over and get past the pitcher’s spot,” McLouth said. “That’s my job down there, and that’s what I’m going to try to do.”
He has been doing it splendidly, batting .357 with five doubles and two homers in 17 games since being dropped from the second spot. He was slumping then; he has sizzled since.
McLouth had three singles and a walk in the first game Wednesday and two hits and two walks in the second game as the Braves spoiled the Milwaukee debut of Zack Greinke.
Greinke, a former American League Cy Young Award winner with Kansas City, was charged with five runs (four earned) and five hits in four innings, with a walk and six strikeouts. He had been on the disabled list with a cracked rib.
The Braves jumped to a 2-0 lead against Greinke on RBI singles by Dan Uggla in the first inning and Martin Prado in the second, then opened it up with three runs in the fourth. That was more than enough support for Hudson, who induced grounders all night and had only four flyball outs.
"It was awesome," Uggla said. "He was working fast, throwing strikes, pretty much doing whatever he wanted to up there. He was as on as I’ve ever seen him.”
Backup catcher David Ross and Eric Hinske got starts in the second game so that Brian McCann and Chipper Jones could rest. Ross and Hinske hit consecutive doubles to start the fourth inning, then McLouth hit a 2-0 Greinke fastball to the right-field bleachers for a 5-0 lead.
Ross has three consecutive two-hit games, and was glad his latest came in support of Hudson's resounding performance.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever caught someone who had a night that good," the veteran catcher said. "Those guys, they were trying everything they could to either ambush him or try to go the other way – whatever they did, Huddy had an answer for. His stuff was really good.
"Even B-Mac [McCann] said he came out one inning to warm him up and he about took his thumb off. You know what I mean? His sinker was hard and late.”
Hanson (4-3) pitched six strong innings (two runs, three hits) in the opener and got plenty of support from McLouth and Prado, who had three hits and three RBIs.
“Big win for us; I don’t even remember the last time we were over .500,” Hanson said after the Braves moved above .500 since for the first time since April 5.
“April 5? See. I mean that was almost a month ago,” said Hanson, had seven strikeouts with two walks. “We need to just keep pushing and playing hard every game, and hopefully look up and we’ll be multiple games above .500.”
The Braves led 4-2 before a four-run sixth inning including Jones’ two-run single.
“It [.500] is just a number,” McLouth said. “But we’ve been kind of teetering [around .500] for a week or so, and to get past it is more a mental thing. Now we can start moving forward.”
Hanson is 4-1 with 1.69 ERA in past five starts, with 38 strikeouts, eight walks and 19 hits allowed in 32 innings. The surge began after his April 7 loss at Milwaukee, where he allowed seven hits and three runs in 5 1/3 innings.
“I didn’t feel as sharp today,” said Hanson, who noted the baseballs felt slick on an unseasonably cool afternoon. “I don’t think I felt my stuff was as good as my last three starts, where my command was there. But I battled. It felt good. I finally was able to get [Ryan] Braun out, so that’s definitely a plus.”
Braun was 6-for-15 with four homers off Hanson before Wednesday, when he went 0-for-3 against the right-hander and 0-for-4 in the game. Braun snapped a streak of reaching base by hit or walk in each of the Brewers’ first 29 games.
McLouth hit a leadoff double and scored on a Prado single in the two-run third inning, when the Braves took a 2-1 lead. Prado added a two-run bloop single in the fourth, and reached on an infield hit and scored in the four-run eighth.
The Brewers briefly tied it in the fourth on Prince Fielder’s long homer to start the inning. Nine of Fielder's 17 career hits at Turner Field have been homers, including eight in his past 12 games.
“I made a stupid pitch to Fielder that he hit a long ways,” Hanson said. “And then, for the most part, I didn’t feel like I made too many mistakes. Like I’ve said before, the lead always helps, and once I got that lead I was just trying to be aggressive.”
