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On the verge of being swept in a four-game series for the first time since 2008, Arizona got a solid outing from Ian Kennedy and enough offense from Gerardo Parra to beat Atlanta 6-4.
The Braves struck first, bringing across a run in the top of the first against Ian Kennedy. Michael Bourn led off with a double, and advanced to third on a grounder from Prado. A Freddie Freeman sacrifice fly brought Bourn in from third, making it 1-0.
The Braves lead was short lived.
With two outs in the second, Jason Kubel singled off Randall Delgado, and advanced to third thanks to a double from Cody Ransom. Then, Fredi Gonzalez made the strange decision to intentionally walk John McDonald, who entered today's game with a robust .611 OPS.
That moved backfired, as Delgado walked the pitcher Kennedy to bring in a run to tie the game. Up next was Parra, who launched a badly located fastball into the right field seats for a grand slam. That made it a 5-1 game.
Atlanta got a run back in the top of the third when Prado doubled, allowing Bourn to come all the way around from first to score. Bourn's run closed the gap to 5-2.
Back-to-back singles from Delgado and Bourn with one out in the top of the fifth had the Braves in good position to score. Prado followed with a grounder to third, and Bourn was called out at second on the force out. However, he was clearly safe, and I was surprised Gonzalez didn't come out to argue a clearly wrong call.
Freeman then singled to center, scoring Delgado and making it a 5-3 game.
Delgado came back out for the sixth, but after back-to-back one out walks, he was pulled in favor of Chad Durbin. Durbin managed to escape the inning unscathed, but Durbin shouldn't be used in situations like that.
Cristhian Martinez replaced Durbin for the seventh, and gave up a run. Parra singled with one out, stole second, and the scored on an Aaron Hill double. That upped the Diamondbacks advantage to 6-3.
Juan Francisco homered off closer J.J. Putz in the ninth to make it 6-4, but that's as close as the Braves would get.
WP:
Ian Kennedy- 7 IP, 9 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K.
LP:
Randall Delgado- 5.1 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 6 K.
Sv:
J.J. Putz (5)