It was not his best outing ever, but Mike Minor put together a quality start and struck out six batters over 6.2 innings to lead the Braves to at worst a split four game series and at best a 3-1 series win. Minor improved to 4-6 and Anthony Varvaro, David Carpenter, and Chasen Shreve allowed just two base runners in 2.1 innings to lock down the game.
The Braves actually only recorded hits in one inning against starter Eric Stults. He was perfect through two but the Braves went on a hit parade in the third inning that featured RBI doubles from Andrelton Simmons and Chris Johnson and RBI singles from Tommy La Stella and Ryan Doumit. The six run inning would be all the offense needed, but just for good measure Justin Upton added a two RBI double in the bottom of the seventh to give the bullpen some breathing room.
The top of the order had a good day at the plate, with La Stella reaching base three times and B.J. Upton recording two hits and two runs.
Back to Minor, while he was effective he did give up two more long balls. Thankfully they were of the solo variety, but he is going to have to hone in his home run tendencies sooner than later if he wants to return to 2013 form. It was good to see him pitch deeper into the game and record a quality start. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction for the lefty.