Miami – The setting for Tim Hudson's long-awaited return from elbow reconstruction surgery couldn't have been more anticlimactic.
A three-hour rain delay pushed his start against the Marlins back to 10 p.m. Tuesday night, prolonging a wait that had already lasted 13 ½ months, and sucking all the energy out of Land Shark Stadium.
But on a soggy night, in front of a few hundred fans, in a stadium where he first tore his elbow ligament July 23, 2008, Hudson was throwing meaningful pitches, and that was all he needed. He recovered from giving up two doubles in his first three pitches to beat the Marlins 4-3.
"It felt really good to be out there," Hudson said. "It's been a long tough road. It was very rewarding to be able to go out there and give us a good chance to win and actually win the game."
Hudson's goal was to pitch six innings and keep it close. He made it 5 1/3 innings before back-to-back walks had manager Bobby Cox coming for the ball. He won for the first time since that night he blew out his elbow two innings into six scoreless against the Marlins.
Hudson gave up two earned runs on six hits to the Marlins Tuesday. He walked three and struck out five. He threw 82 pitches, including 50 for strikes.
"For his first outing, starting three hours late, wondering what first pitch was going to be, about 10 different times, I thought he did great," Cox said. "He was getting a lot of choppers, foul balls, making a lot of those good Hudson sinkers in on guys. He had a great changeup tonight too."
Peter Moylan coaxed a double play from Cody Ross to get Hudson out of the bases loaded jam he left in the sixth, and the Braves added an insurance run in the eighth on Garret Anderson's RBI-infield hit. Rafael Soriano surrendered a solo home run to Dan Uggla in the ninth but kept it there.
"Not like I needed any extra incentive, but I know exactly what he's been through the last 12 months, and I know it's a huge emotional roller coaster for the first few months when you come back," said Moylan, who was coming off elbow reconstruction surgery himself this spring. "To get out of a jam like that feels awesome. I'm really happy for him. When you're coming in behind a guy like Tim who's one of the nicest guys you're going to meet off the field and such a competitor on the field, it's nice to get it done."
The Braves stayed three games back in the NL wild card and 7 ½ games back in the NL East. But they've taken a two-game lead on the Marlins two games into this four-game series.
The Marlins didn't wait for Hudson to get his bearings. Chris Coghlan doubled to right center on his second pitch of the game and Wes Helms followed with a double on the next pitch. Hudson recovered to strikeout the dangerous Hanley Ramirez but then fell behind Jorge Cantu, who worked a two-run single into right field.
Hudson gave up 29 hits in 23 1/3 innings during his minor league rehabilitation, fighting his location. He struggled to keep his pitches down in the first inning, but once he settled in, he was good to go.
He let Coghlan and Helms reach again in the third but got out of the inning by getting Cantu to line out.
"I ran into some issues throughout the game that I'd actually run into when I was in the minors rehabbing, not making a good enough pitch deep in the count, getting too much plate and giving up hits," Hudson said. "But for the most part I felt fine. It's just like anywhere, you've got to make good pitches down in the zone."
The Braves took advantage of Anibal Sanchez's unsteadiness in the third inning to score two runs and take a 3-2 lead. A four-pitch walk to Hudson started it. Then a Sanchez balk allowed Hudson to score the tying run and Martin Prado to move into scoring position for Brian McCann, who doubled in the go-ahead run.
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