Matt Diaz broke out his first multi-hit game since returning from the disabled list on Tuesday night, including two doubles, the second of which drove in Yunel Escobar from first base in the eleventh inning for the winning run. Eric Hinske then followed with some added insurance runs in the form of a towering fly-ball two-run homerun (I forgot which ballpark this was for a moment). Billy Wagner then came on to pick up his 18th save of the year.
The Braves got the game started off right by loading the bases in the first inning, but Troy Glaus grounded into a double play and Yunel Escobar flied out with only one run scoring. Jair Jurrjens then gave up a homerun after a walk in the bottom half of the inning to give Philly the 2-to-1 lead.
The Braves tied it up in the fourth on a David Ross line drive, scoring Matt Diaz, who had doubled. Martin Prado put the Braves in front with a solo homerun in the fourth, but Jurrjens gave the lead right back. After another walk, Ryan Howard barely missed a homerun and ended up with a triple, scoring Raul Ibanez with no outs. With Howard on third and no outs Peter Moylan came on to strike out Jayson Werth, and then Jonny Venters got the two remaining outs. That began some great work by the Atlanta bullpen, which threw five innings of one-hit ball to finish out the game.
Jair Jurrjens pitched great, and really only made two mistakes, but like Derek Lowe last night, those mistakes were with runners on base and produced a maximum return on effort for Philadelphia. The Phillies had only three hits all night, and just two for the first ten innings. The lead-off walks also hurt Jurrjens, as two of his three bases on balls came around to score.
The Braves had plenty of chances to score, as they had 13 hits and 2 walks, but grounded into two double-plays and didn't do much hitting with runners on base (except for Matty Diaz, that is -- and HInske in the 11th).
Overall it was a terrific win for the Braves, who have a chance to win the series tomorrow. This wasn't a pretty win, but it got the job done, and I'll take it.