Floyd Finally Features In A Victory, Braves Win 3-1

After the pitching featured in a bad way in the previous series in Arizona, the staff had a day of redemption in the first game of a 4-game series against the Colorado Rockies, as Gavin Floyd and the rest of the Braves pitching staff banded together to keep the Rockies at bay to the tune of 4 hits and 1 run. Combine that with some good ol' fashioned run manufacturing and timely hitting from Chris Johnson (for a change) and you have a recipe for a 3-1 victory on the road.

The scoring kicked off after 3 innings of scoreless ball, which is when B.J. Upton kicked off the rally in the top of the 4th with a single and a stolen base that ended up being a painful one when the older Upton brother got hit in the back with the throw from C Michael McKenry. B.J. stayed in the game and his pain didn't go in vain. After a walk from Freddie Freeman and a Justin Upton fly out that moved Melvin to 3rd, Evan Gattis continued his hot streak with a productive out that brought in B.J. Upton for the game's first run. Run #2 came immediately afterwards, as Chris Johnson showed signs of life at the plate with a liner to center that brought in Freddie to put the Braves up 2.

The Rockies wouldn't respond until the 7th inning, which is when Corey Dickerson led off that inning with a solo homer off of Gavin Floyd to make it 2-run. After getting the next two out, Gavin Floyd's night ended and Luis Avilan came in with the tying run on first. Despite giving up a double on a ground ball that somehow managed to elude both Tommy La Stella and Andrelton Simmons in the middle of the infield, Avilan managed to get out of the jam (there were 2 runners in scoring position by this point) by inducing a grounder out of Charlie Blackmon to end the inning.

In the very next frame, Atlanta proceeded to make Colorado pay for not cashing in those baserunners in the previous inning. After a single from Evan Gattis moved Justin Upton over to 3rd (who reached base with a leadoff walk to start the inning), Chris Johnson came back up in a run-scoring position and delivered again, hitting the first pitch he saw into center field for an RBI single that gave the Braves a 2-run cushion going into the final inning of the game.

Following a blown save against the Diamondbacks this past weekend, Craig Kimbrel took to the mound in the 9th and pitched like someone who figured that the only way to erase a bad memory would be to literally pitch that memory to death, and Kimbrel did just that. The Braves' All-Time leader in saves collected his 17th save of 2014 in efficient fashion, with a 2-out walk being the only blemish on an otherwise dominant appearance where he threw some serious heat at the Rockies. Kimbrel's 156th career save coincided with the Braves' 33rd win of the year (and Gavin Floyd getting credit for his first win since October of 2012), which keeps them in 1st place for at least another day.