Tim Hudson was rudely denied his 200th career win by the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight. Hudson, making his first bid for win #200 since beating Washington for win #199 last Saturday, was not sharp from the get go. The Bucs hit Hudson early and often tonight as Wandy Rodriguez shut down the vaunted Braves offensive machine over 7 innings to pick up his 2nd win.
Hudson looked shaky from the first inning, as he gave up a line drive double off the wall to Travis Snider in the second at-bat of the game. Hudson managed to coax loud line drive outs from Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones, but the Pirates weren't missing anything.
Hudson's luck ran out the following inning, as Neil Walker led off the 2nd with a triple. Justin Upton misplayed the ball, but it was a scalded hit. Pedro Alvarez - who smashed a monster home run last night - gave Pirate fans an encore, smacking Hudson's very next pitch over the right field wall for a two run homer. Back to back doubles from Russell Martin and Jose Tabata made it 3-0 Pirates in the 2nd before Hudson got out of the inning.
That 3-0 score would hold until the 5th, when Hudson fell apart completely. Hudson led off the inning by walking Jose Tabata on 5 pitches. Travis Snider followed with a clean single to right. Hudson then walked Andrew McCutchen, loading the bases with no one out. Fredi opted to leave Hudson in to face Garrett Jones, who stroked a 2 RBI single to right on a 1-0 pitch, making it 5-0 and spelling the end of the night for the Braves' veteran righty.
Anthony Varvaro came in, and did a great job of damage control, allowing only 1 inherited runner to score on a passed ball 3rd strike by Gerald Laird.
On the other side, Wandy Rodriguez was marvelous for the Pirates, tossing 7 innings of 1 hit ball. Rodriguez didn't walk a batter and struck out 5, the only blemish on his otherwise-perfect night coming on a Jason Heyward single.
B.J. Upton was ejected by Braves' fan favorite Sam Holbrook in the 7th inning. After taking a called third strike, Upton said a few words to Holbrook and began walking back towards the dugout. Holbrook turned to put in his two cents as well, then waved his hand dismissively at Upton, shooing him back to the dugout. B.J. took exception to Holbrook's gesture and went back to tell him so, getting tossed in the process.
Atlanta will look to bounce back tomorrow against struggling Pirates righty James McDonald. Paul Maholm will take the hill for Atlanta, looking to improve on his 3-0 record.