Atlanta Braves at Boston Red Sox Series Recap

The Braves wrapped up their interleague schedule in a less-than-ideal fashion, losing the last two games of a three-game series at Fenway Park. The series saw the return of Jair Jurrjens to the rotation and he pitched like he did the first half of 2011 when he dominated. He only allowed three hits into the eighth inning of Atlanta's 4-1 win.

The series also saw the end of Kevin Youkilis's career in Boston. With him being unhappy with a lack of playing time, Youkilis started the series finale and had a pair of hits. After his hit in the seventh, he received a loud ovation when he was pinch-run for, suggesting he had been traded. As it turned out, he was indeed traded to the White Sox, ending his nine-year career in Boston.

Youk's replacement, Will Middlebrooks, had four hits in the series with a home run and three RBI. He hit his home run in Saturday's game, a game in which Randall Delgado had the shortest outing of his career. Delgado surrendered four runs in just 1.1 innings, a far cry from his eight-inning performance in his previous start.

Mike Minor didn't fare much better, lasting just 4.2 innings and giving up three more home runs on Sunday. He's now given up 18 HR in his last 11 starts with a very unsightly 7.16 ERA. He better figure out something quick because Mark Bowman suggested Kris Medlen could start in Minor's place against the Nats.

On the hitting side, Jason Heyward continues to rake in June. He had seven hits in the series with five runs scored to push his June batting avg. to .369; he's also posted an OPS of 1.089 so far this month. Four of Heyward's last five games have been multi-hit games.

Overall, there was no shortage of hits. Including Heyward's hits, the team recorded 34 hits in the three games, 10 of them for extra bases. Heyward hit Atlanta's only home run in the series, a solo home run in Sunday's game that came right after a double play. Atlanta left 23 runners on base and was just 4-for-33 with RISP in the series.

One interesting note is that the Braves scored four runs in each game of the series. Atlanta's final interleague record of 2012 is 8-10.

The Braves are off Monday before starting a series at home against Arizona.