Braves Win 4th Straight, Defeat Pirates 6-3

Another night, another complete game played by the Atlanta Braves.

Kris Medlen was on the mound Saturday night and pitched pretty well despite not having full control of his pitches at times. It looked like it could be a long night in the first inning after he walked the first 2 batters, but then retired the Pirates 3-4-5 hitters to get out of a big jam. It seemed like the Pirates were inches away from breaking through all night, but besides an odd 2-run triple from Pirates pitcher Brian Burres, Medlen was able to keep them under control. Meds has been great in Jurrjen's place in the rotation and he'll put pressure on the front office to make a decision once JJ comes back.

The Braves got on the board early in the 1st inning when Jason Heyward homered for the 10th time this season. Off the bat it looked like the ball would go 10 or 15 rows back into the right-center field stands, but it just barely cleared the wall. But a 380 foot HR is just as good as a 500 foot HR and it put the Braves up 1-0.

The Pirates scored in the 3rd on a HR from Rickie Weeks Andrew McCutchen, who is without a doubt a superstar in the making. As mentioned above, the Pirates actually took the lead in the 4th inning when pitcher Brian Burres hit a 2-run triple to the centerfield wall. The 2 runs would've scored anyway, but it should be noted that Nate McLouth took a terrible route to the ball and failed to hold Burres to a single. Fortunately for the Braves, that would be all the scoring the Pirates would do.

Troy Glaus came up huge in the 5th with a game-tying 2-run double into LF. After struggling so much in April, Glaus was fantastic in the month of May. I'm guessing we'll see a mixture of the April and May Troy Glaus in June, but I'll take it. The Braves scored again in the 6th when Martin Prado drove in David Ross with a deep sac-fly to RF. The Bravos led 4-3 after 6 innings.

Marteeeeen Prado, who should definitely be representing the NL at the All Star Game in July, came up with a huge 2-run double to the left-center field gap that scored Melky Cabrera and Eric Hinske without a throw. That hit put the Braves up 6-3 going into the 9th.

Billy Wagner came on for the save, but as soon as he reached the mound a downpour hit The Ted and the tarp went onto the field for a quick 20-minute rain delay. Despite the rain, Wags stayed loose and returned to set the Pirates down in order to end the game.

Braves win 6-3!

Good, Bad and Ugly coming up...

The Good:

1. The bullpen (Moylan, Saito and Wagner) - 3IP  0H  6K/0BB; that's just not fair.

2. Marteeen Prado - 2-for-4, 2B  3RBI  1R

3. Troy Glaus - 1-for-3, BB  2B  1BB

4. Kris Medlen - 6IP  9H  3ER  2BB/4K

5. Jason Heyward - 2-for-5, HR(10)  2B  1RBI  1R; OPS of over 1.000 again. Not too bad.

The Bad:

1. Nothing, to be perfectly honest.

The Ugly:

1. Yunel Escobar (again.) - 0-for-4, 1K  5LOB; this is getting pathetic. I don't know how much longer the Braves stick with Esco. I love the guy, but all he does is swing at pitches early in the count and ground out to the left side of the infield.

2. Brendan Donnelly - 1.2IP  1H  2ER  1BB/2K

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Upcoming Game: The 3-game series will conclude tomorrow afternoon, weather permitting. It'll be Kenshin Kawakami on the mound for the Braves and Paul Maholm for the Pirates. First pitch is at 1:35EST.