Maybe Derek Lowe is starting to sniff September.
The Braves veteran, who seems to lock in come playoff time, started a little early Friday night, and the sensation lasted long enough to get the offense going behind him and the bullpen ready to pick him up in his usual sixth-inning trouble spot.
In the midst of a homestand that’s starting to feel like the stretch run, Lowe pitched accordingly for five shutout innings in a 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks.
He was buoyed by three home runs — from Michael Bourn, Brian McCann and Chipper Jones — and some good relief work from rookie Arodys Vizcaino.
Lowe was up to 99 pitches after he hit a batter and walked another to lead off the sixth. Manager Fredi Gonzalez came for him, and turned it over to Vizcaino, who retired the side on two strikeouts and a deep fly ball.
“With my track record in the sixth inning, I think Fredi wasn’t going to wait for the snowball to go down the hill,” said Lowe, who has an 8.47 ERA in the sixth inning this season. “It’s something you’ve got to earn.”
Lowe didn’t get an 0-2 pitch he wanted against Justin Upton leading off the sixth, and it was the hot-hitting Upton who drove a two-run double to the gap in the seventh inning off Eric O’Flaherty plating a pair of Vizcaino’s runners.
But Jonny Venters and Craig Kimbrel closed it out, and the Braves moved to 18-1 since June 1 when those three relievers appear in a game.
Venters needed only seven pitches, including six strikes, to dispatch the Diamondbacks in the eighth. Then Kimbrel worked around a bunt single and a walk to extend his scoreless streak to 29 2/3 innings. He is 20-for-20 in save opportunities over that time and is three saves shy from breaking Neftali Feliz’s record for saves by a rookie, which is 40 set last season.
After taking three of four against the defending World Series champion Giants, the Braves claimed the series opener against an Arizona team that just passed the Giants for the lead in the National League West last week.
The Braves widened their wild-card lead to seven games on the Giants, who lost to Houston on Friday night.
“We said coming into these seven games that we wanted to be on the plus side of .500,” Jones said. “We clinched that tonight, now we’ve got a chance to do one or two better. It was a tough game. We pitched pretty flawlessly up until the sixth, then we got a little wild in the sixth and seventh. ... But three home runs, guys are feeling good at the plate, and we’re making the most of our swings.”
A leadoff homer by Bourn, a two-run shot from McCann and Jones’ second home run in as many games, helped hand the Diamondbacks their third consecutive loss on this trip through the NL East. The streaking Diamondbacks had won seven in a row before losing back-to-back games in Philadelphia.
McCann launched a two-run homer to right field in the third inning to give the Braves a 3-0 lead. It was his second home run in five games, after his solo shot off Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner on Monday night. McCann reached the 20-homer mark for the fifth time in his six full major league seasons.
Jones followed with a solo shot in the sixth, giving him his 11th and 12th home runs of the season in his past two games, and moving him past Vladimir Guerrero into 35th place on the all-time list at 448.
Bourn put the pressure on Arizona starter Daniel Hudson with the second leadoff home run of his career and his first home run as a Brave. The newly acquired Bourn was the only Brave with any real history against Hudson and he made it count. Bourn went 2-for-3 against Hudson to make him 5-for-9 with four RBIs for his career.
His solo shot in the first helped set the tone for Lowe, who was looking for something to build on after losing five of his previous seven starts, piling up a 6.81 ERA and a .354 opponents’ batting average along the way.
Lowe gave up only four hits Friday night, for his lowest total since June 29 at Seattle. He’d given up 10 or more three times in his previous seven starts. Former Brave Kelly Johnson got two of the four hits off Lowe, all four of which were singles.
Lowe struck out seven, the most he’d had in a game since eight on April 25 in San Diego. He is 8-11 with a 4.48 ERA now on the season. He was 11-12 with a 4.53 ERA last year heading into September. That’s right when he buckled in to go 5-0 stretch with a 1.17 ERA the rest of the regular season.
“This time of year it’s always fun to be in a pennant race,” Lowe said.
