After the way Florida pitcher Josh Johnson completely manhandled the Braves for most of Wednesday night at Turner Field, Chipper Jones’ ninth-inning homer provided at least something for the home fans to smile about.
Jones’ homer gave the third baseman his 1,500th career RBI, but wasn’t nearly enough to prevent another loss for the Braves, who were thumped 5-1 by the Marlins to even the three-game series at a game apiece.
Johnson took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before Freddie Freeman’s one-out bloop double, the only hit for the Braves besides Jones’ homer off Randy Choate.
Jones joined Eddie Murray as the only switch-hitters in history with at least 2,500 hits and 1,500 RBIs, and was thankful he wasn't answering questions about being no-hit for what would have been the second time in as many seasons in Atlanta.
“Do you think any of us wanted to put up with the questions?" he said. "We’ve been no-hit, we’ve been perfect-gamed, it’s not fun. In the grand scheme of things it’s just another loss, but to go out and get dominated for nine full innings is embarrassing. We’re all professionals, we all have egos.
"That guy [Johnson] is some kind of good, though. And he’s going to have his day. I’m just glad it wasn’t today."
Jones got his 2,500th hit earlier in the homestand in a win against Philadelphia. Unlike that night, Wednesday's milestone didn't come in an ideal situation, but he was pleased to join the Hall of Famer Murray in a fraternity of two.
“It’s pretty incredible to me that there’s only two guys that have done it," Jones said. "I consider myself a natural switch-hitter. I’ve been doing it all my life. I wonder why more people haven’t done it. Obviously it’s not the easiest thing to do, but it’s natural for me.
"Number 1, you’ve got to play a long time and both of us have done that. And number 2, you’ve got to be productive. I can walk away from the park tonight knowing that I’ve been productive for a long time and one of a handful of guys to be able to do that.”
Johnson had nine strikeouts and three walks in 7-1/3 innings to hand the Braves their sixth loss in eight games before a crowd of 14,351,which was larger than only one in Turner Field history -- the 13,865 that turned out for Tuesday's series opener.
The Braves need to win Thursday to avoid their third consecutive series loss. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez has seen plenty of Johnson, having managed him for 3-1/2 seasons before being fired as Marlins manager in June 2010.
“I think whether he’s one, two or three [among top National League pitchers], it won’t take very long to take roll in his class," Gonzalez said. "He’s gotten himself into a class that when you start naming top right-handers, he’s up there....
“He's a power pitcher, and today he broke out the curveball, something we haven’t seen, something I haven’t seen. But anyway, you’ve got to tip your hat to him.”
Johnson was replaced after Freeman’s hit, having thrown a season-high 109 pitches. The 6-foot-7 right-hander received a standing ovation as he walked off the field.
“It was just a sigh of relief," Freeman said of his reaction after blooping a 94-mph Johnson fastball to shallow left field. "You never want to get no-hit, so to throw one out there, it’s always nice. I guess that was about the only thing good about it."
Johnson’s performance came four days before the one-year anniversary of a no-hitter by Ubaldo Jimenez of Colorado against the Braves at Turner Field.
"It’s funny," Braves center fielder Nate McLouth said, "I was kind of thinking to myself before the game, ‘This guy, he’s just waiting to throw a no-hitter.’ That’s the type of stuff he’s got.
“I shouldn’t have thought that, because he almost did. But that’s who he is. You saw tonight.”
The Braves’ Tim Hudson (2-1) was uncharacteristically shaky, at least in the early going when it mattered. He was charged with five runs and seven hits in six innings, all the damage in the first three innings.
“He was good tonight," Hudson said of his Marlins counterpart. "It’s kind of hard to spot him that many runs early and expect our guys to try to put together good at-bats against him. I got us in too big a hole early against a guy like that....
"As a pitcher, when you have a five-run lead you feel pretty invincible out there, and he was pitching like that.”
Hudson gave up five runs in the first three innings, including three runs on four hits in the second. Among the damaging blows in the inning was an RBI groundball single by Johnson, after a bases-loading intentional walk to catcher John Buck.
“Oh, it’s a kick in the [gut]," Hudson said of the Johnson hit. "that whole inning that was the worst pitch I made. That pitch was up and out over the plate. All the other pitches I made that whole inning, they were all down, just caught a little too much plate and they were just groundballs through the hole. For the him if I make a little bit better pitch on him, he might hit into a double play. He hit a ball on the ground. It was up and over the plate and he was able to hook it through the hole.”
Chris Coghlan followed Johnson with a two-run single that pushed the Marlins’ lead to 4-0 before Hudson had recorded his fifth out.
Logan Morrison’s long homer in the third inning accounted for the Marlins’ fifth run.
Staked to a 5-0 lead after three innings, Johnson (2-0) was even more overwhelming than usual against the Braves, and this time he finally got some support.
“He doesn’t make mistakes," Braves catcher Brian McCann said. "You don’t get anything over the middle of the plate. He’s as good as it gets.”
Johnson had been 4-3 despite a 2.48 ERA in 15 previous games against the Braves. Last season, he had 28 strikeouts and a 1.50 ERA in three quality starts against them, but the Marlins lost all three games.
The Braves had batted .225 and scored only 21 runs in their past eight games before Wednesday, when Johnson made them look helpless much of the night. Dan Uggla and Jason Heyward lined out in the second, the only hard-hit balls off Johnson.
