Hudson, Bullpen Dominate in 3-1 win over Natinals

Note: Since mvhsball said he wouldn't be around to post the recap immediately, I figured I'd give this whole recap thing a shot since I have nothing else better to do tonight.

The game tonight was similar in a lot of ways to last night's game, except this time things went the Braves way. Tim Hudson, like Tommy Hanson last night, dominated for most of the game, going 7.2 innings while allowing 7 hits, 1 base on balls, and 1 earned run while racking up 7 K's and (his usual) 12 groundballs. And, for all you sabermetric lovers out there, Hudson had an amazing .418 WPA.

One of the few moments where Hudson was under pressure came in the bottom of the 3rd, with runners on the corners with one out. The next batter, Adam Kennedy, promptly grounded straight to Troy Glaus, allowing a beautiful 3-6-3 double play to get Hudson out of the jam.

After Hudson allowed his only walk of the game in the top of the eighth, Venters made a seven pitch appearance against Adam Dunn with Ryan Zimmerman on first to get the last out of the eighth inning. Finally, Billy Wagner returned to form to close out the game. Wagner managed one strike out and two fly outs to Melky Cabrera to stop the Braves' recent losing streak.

The Braves jumped on the scoreboard early, with Martin Prado snapping his recent mini slump with an opening single. Jason Heyward followed up with a double to move Prado to third, and Chipper Jones flied out to center field for a sacrifice fly as both baserunners tagged with Prado coming home and Heyward moving to third. Brian McCann walked, and on a full count with one out against Eric Hinske, McCann attempted to steal 2nd on the next pitch. Hinske struck out and McCann got caught in a rundown, but Heyward managed to take advantage  and score with a double steal.

According to Dave O'Brien's twitter feed, this was the first time the Braves stole home on a double steal in ten years since Rafael Furcal did it against the San Francisco Giants in 2000.

The scoring continued in the 5th inning, with Prado getting his third hit of the game and the 29th double of the season after Hudson flied out to lead off the inning. Heyward walked, and with both runners on base, Chipper hit a single to left driving in Prado. Livan Hernandez made an early exit, but the National's bullpen was able to stop the damage and prevent Heyward from scoring.

The Nationals tried to rebound immediately in the bottom of the 5th, as Ivan Rodriguez doubled to center to start off the inning. After Hudson got the next two outs, Michael Morse hit a single to bring Pudge home. The National's comeback ended two batters later, when Kennedy sent a hard ground ball up the middle that bounced off Hudson's shin. Hudson was able to field the ball and throw Kennedy out at first, ending the inning.

As recapped above, Hudson and the Braves' bullpen went on to secure the victory, allowing the Braves to hold off the red hot Philadelphia Phillies, who built their winning streak to seven games in a 7-1 win over the Dbacks. The Braves' lead on the NL East remains at 3.5 games.