This game quickly became more about home plate umpire CB Bucknor than the game.
Alex Wood and Ross Ohlendorf traded zeroes for the first four innings and looked pretty good. After Ross Ohlendorf had another easy inning, all hell broke loose in the bottom half. With one out and the bases loaded, Jayson Werth took Wood to a 3-2 count, and on a pitch that was rather close to the zone, Bucknor called it a ball, walking in a run. Wood clearly disagreed and began yelling at Bucknor. Fredi hurried out of the dugout and got ejected instead. Bryce Harper added a run with a sacrifice fly, and after being replaced, Wood let Bucknor have a little more guff, causing Bucknor to eject him.
The encounter seemed to awaken the Braves. Dan Uggla hit his first home run since the first Bush administration, and Justin Upton added a two-run, two-out bomb to put the Braves ahead. During the next half inning, Anthony Varvaro hit Anthony Rendon with an 0-1 pitch, and Bucknor issued warnings to both dugouts. Issuing warnings didn't make a lot of sense given the count and game situation, but hey what are you going to do.
The Braves added another run with am RBI double by Brian McCann that bounced off the top of Denard Span's glove, but what happened next added more fun to the night. Chris Johnson was grazed by a pitch, and Bucknor didn't eject the pitcher. It obviously wasn't intentional, but after having issued warnings, it was odd that Bucknor didn't eject anyone. During the very next at-bat, Dan Uggla was rung up on a pitch awfully similar to the one that caused Wood's ire earlier in the game. Let's just say it wasn't Bucknor's night.
An insurance run was added later, but Craig Kimbrel didn't need any help tonight as he returned to his dominant ways.
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