Braves Outlast Marlins, 2-1 In 11 Innings

On a night when the Braves' pitching staff showed that it has what it takes to make it to the playoffs (and thrive there), the Braves' hitters spent most of the night looking like they didn't deserve to make the AAA playoffs. Sure, Brian McCann launched a homer that put us up 1-0, but otherwise it was another LOBsterfest. The Braves left 12 men on base in the first 10 innings, including 6 in scoring position, and were 0/6 with RISP until the last play of the night. Sure, Marlins starter Alex Sanabia pitched very well (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 5 K), but some of the blame has to lie with the hitters' ineptitude.

Fortunately, for the Braves' hitters, Tommy Hanson and the bullpen were fantastic. Hanson went seven-and-two-thirds innings, giving up only 5 baserunners (4 singles and a killer bloop double that accounted for the Marlins' only run). Big Red nursed the puny 1-0 lead into the 8th inning before a single and stolen base (by Mike Stanton) and the fluky double (by Brad Davis) tied the game. He got another no-decision, but I think he's proving to the world that he deserves to be thought of as not just a future ace, but a present ace.

The bullpen was just as good as Big Red. Jonny Venters, Billy Wagner, Peter Moylan, and Mike Dunn combined to give up just 1 hit and 1 walk in three-and-a-third innings, striking out 6. Without their great work, the Braves (obviously) would have lost.

Which brings us to the ultimate reason that the Braves didn't lose: the clutch walk-off hit by Omar Infante in the 11th. Right before Omar came up, pinch-hitter Freddie Freeman struck out with 1 out and runners on 2nd and 3rd (in his defense, the called 3rd strike was borderline at best and he already had 2 strikes on him when the runners advanced on a wild pitch). At that point, I was seriously wondering if the Braves would get another clutch hit in the 2010 season.

Thankfully, Omar ended that chicken-little-esque line of thought quickly by lining a ball into the left field corner to win the game. Between the extra innings and the hour-plus rain delay at the start of the game, it was a long time coming. But it's never to late for a walk-off, I suppose.

On a negative note, Braves all-star second baseman/third baseman/sparkplug left the game after taking an awkward swing. The early word is that it was a hip pointer, and that he is day-to-day. I hope he's not out for long, because we can ill afford to lose what little offensive firepower we have. Prado apparently first tweaked the hip when making a spectacular diving play to his right on a Dan Uggla liner. What is it with Braves third basemen hurting themselves making great defensive plays this year?

Still, despite the injury, it was a good--and needed--win. At this point, we don't have to win pretty; we just have to win. As a bonus, the Padres lost 1-0 to the Cubs (Marmol narrowly avoided a meltdown, leaving the bases loaded in the 9th), which puts us back in the wild card lead. Huzzah!