PHILADELPHIA—Tim Hudson hadn't faced the Phillies since the last game of last season, when his gutsy effort put the Braves in position to win and go to the playoffs before the bullpen blew it in a 13-inning loss.
Hudson might have managed an even grittier effort Friday night at Citizens Bank Park when it was obvious he was having problems with his balky left ankle. Hudson pitched seven scoreless innings on a hot night to put the Braves in position to take the series opener, and his batterymate Brian McCann cashed in with an eighth-inning grand slam for a 5-0 victory.
McCann hit his second home run in as many days and his second grand slam this season against the Phillies. The Braves have lost eight of their past 10 games against the Phillies overall and four consecutive series, but they've won the past two games when McCann hit a grand slam.
McCann helped the Braves win a wild one 15-13 at Turner Field on May 2 with a grand slam off Roy Halladay.
After a scoreless game through seven innings Friday when Hudson and Kyle Kendrick dueled as if it were the playoffs — not 95 degrees in July — the Braves finally broke through on the Phillies bullpen.
They scored five runs in the eighth, all with two outs, after the Braves put runners on first and second with nobody out for the second consecutive inning and looked as if they might let the Phillies wriggle out of it again. But Chipper Jones drew a walk, working back from an 0-2 count, and the normally aggressive Freddie Freeman followed with a bases-loaded walk to give the Braves their first run.
Then the resurgent McCann kept his word about trying to get right for the second half by sending an 0-1 pitch from Antonio Bastardo to straightaway center for his 11th home run of the season.
"I've been working really hard to stay consistent," McCann said. "I've been feeling really good at the plate. Hopefully I can continue this and help this team win the second half of the season because the first half, I was as bad as I'm going to get.
"We're still right there in the mix, and I was in the middle of the order not doing anything. So I feel like the second half is going to be a big one and I'm excited for it.
Hudson gave up only four hits, walked one, hit one batter and coaxed 14 ground-ball outs despite drawing trainer Jeff Porter out of the dugout twice in the second inning to check on his left ankle. Hudson has been pitching with bone spurs in his left ankle for over a month.
"It was one of those things, that ankle bites him and it bit him pretty good, and he did it two times within four pitches, but he wasn't going to come out of the game." manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "[Pitching coach] Roger [McDowell] and I were worried that he would change his delivery a little bit or hurt his arm. And he goes no, I'll be fine. And [McCann] said the ball was coming out good."
The Phillies have lost eight of their past nine games and finally gave the Braves an indication of the downturn that has their management trying to decide whether to sell at the trade deadline. Even with Ryan Howard back in the lineup for the first time this season, the Phillies failed to score.
Howard went 2-for-3 against Hudson, raising his career average against him to .345 (19-for-55), but the other Phillies managed only three hits the rest of the game. And Eric O'Flaherty got Howard to ground out to strand two runners in the eighth.
The Braves moved back within five games of the Nationals, who lost to the Rockies on Friday night.
