That was a pretty frustrating game with an absolutely terrible call by the 2nd base umpire in the 8th inning, so we'll just get right to the recap.
Tim Hudson wasn't great for his 2nd start in a row, but he still managed to fight through six innings of four run baseball. He gave up seven hits on the night and only walked one, but it seemed like the Rockies had runners in scoring position against him all night. And unlike the Braves on Monday, they took advantage of situations where they could score. Jason Hammel pitched for the Rockies and had Braves hitters off balance for a majority of the night. He did allowed nine hits in 6.1IP, but the Braves failed to capitalize on his mistakes. He struck out six and didn't walk any either.
The Rockies scored first tonight courtesy of a Carlos Gonzalez double into the gap. Jason Heyward just barely missed the ball with his glove, and the speedy Dexter Fowler scored from 1st. Most know this already, but I think we all saw tonight how good of a player CarGo really is.
Ian Stewart benefitted from "The Coors Effect" and hit a moonshot HR to center field that kept on carrying and carrying. It was on an elevated fastball from Hudson, and he didn't miss. The Rockies led 3-0 after four innings.
The Braves came right back in the next frame. Martin Prado tomahawked a ball at the letters over the center field wall to finally put the Braves on the board. The homer is the first since Martin's return from the disabled list, and it drove in Jason Heyward who had another three hits on the night.
The Rockies scored once again in the sixth, and this time it was courtesy of Todd Helton. Helton absolutely owns Huddy at Coors Field and he ended up with four hits on the night. He drove in Troy Tulowitzki with a single up the middle to make it 4-2 after six innings.
Rick Ankiel caught a hold of an elevated fastball in the 7th inning and recorded his first HR of the year with the Atlanta Braves. The Braves then came up in the 8th inning and tied it up on a huge two out, RBI-double in the 8th inning. Diory Hernandez had a shot to score from 1st, but Carlos Gonzalez made a nice play on the ball and got it in quickly. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Rick Ankiel battled with Rafael Betancourt, but ended up striking out on a ball above his head. The Braves still managed to tie the game though, and it was 4-4 heading into the 8th.
CarGo came up big once again and served a single to right field off of Jonny Venters to lead off the 8th. Gonzalez then attempted to steal 2nd and it turned out to be a huge call in the Rockies favor. Brian McCann gunned the ball down to Alex Gonzalez and he clearly tagged Carlos out before he reached the bag. The umpire called him safe. The fans knew it, the announcers knew it, and I think even Gonzalez knew it: he was out. Clearly out. But the umpire blew the call, and after a Tulowitzki walk, Todd Helton drove him in. Thanks ump. Go screw yourself.
The Braves came up in the 9th against Rox closer Houston Street. Melky Cabrera had a pathetic pinch-hit AB as he does 98% of the time and struck out on four pitches. Omar Infante grounded out weakly on the first pitch for the 2nd out. Jason Heyward, who already had three hits on the night, came up as the final hope to find that the strikezone had magically widened two feet as he came to the plate. Ball one was called a strike, as was ball two. Heyward took what should've been ball three, and then struck out swinging on an elevated slider.
Braves lose 5-4. Very frustrating game.
The Phillies did lose on Monday, so our lead is still 2.5 games.
It'll be Derek Lowe against Jorge De La Rosa tomorrow night. Oh boy. First pitch is at 8:40EST.