At this point, we're running out of adjectives to describe how good Kris Medlen is pitching. On Monday afternoon, the right-hander was superb, striking out a career high 12 batters en route to a 6-1 Atlanta complete game win over Colorado.
Medlen pounded the strike zone all afternoon, throwing 85 strikes in 111 pitches. He also caused 14 swing and misses; nine of which came on his changeup.
He received some early support from the Braves' offense thanks to some less than spectacular defense by the Rockies. Tyler Chatwood walked Michael Bourn to start the inning, and he advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Jose Constanza.
A Jason Heyward grounder moved Bourn up to third, and he came home on a wild pitch from Chatwood against Freddie Freeman. Freeman then walked to bring Martin Prado to the plate. Prado lined a ball off the leg of Chatwood, and his throw to first was dropped by first baseman Jordan Pacheco, allowing Freeman to try and take third.
Pacheco's throw to third went into left field, plating Freeman and making it a 2-0 game after one.
The Braves added the rest of their scoring in the bottom of the third. Three walks in the four four batters to Bourn, Constanza, and Freeman loaded the bases with one out for Prado. He popped a shallow fly ball to center that Bourn was able to cruise in and score on.
Bourn is one of the few players that could have scored on that ball. Juan Francisco blooped a single into left that scored Constanza, making it a 4-0 game. David Ross followed with a double to center that some hellacious movement on it in the air, bringing home both Freeman and Francisco.
Medlen's 34.2 scoreless inning streak finally ended in the top of the seventh on an unearned run. Carlos Gonzalez singled, and Pacheco followed two batters later with a grounder to short. Paul Janish made a great diving stop on it, but his throw to second went into right field, allowing Gonzalez to come all the way around and score.