Braves rally late again, La Stella has big night in 7-3 win over Angels

The Braves were forced to rally late yet again, but this time they took the lead and kept it. Tommy La Stella had three hits and the go-ahead RBI as the Braves topped the Angels to win their first interleague series of the year.

La Stella and the Braves offense had to rescue Mike Minor, whom the Angels singled to death; nine of the 11 hits he surrendered in five innings were singles, the other two hits being home runs by Erick Aybar in the second inning and Mike Trout leading off the third. A third run scored for the Angels on Howie Kendrick's single to center in the third, plating Albert Pujols.

Conversely, Hector Santiago didn't give the Braves anything through five innings, allowing just two hits and a walk. The sixth inning, though, would spell doom for the Angels lefty.

Atlanta would dent the scoreboard in a big way following a one-out walk to B.J. Upton. Three straight singles led to two runs before Santiago was pulled; another single loaded the bases for La Stella and he came through with a long double to score two and put the Braves in front for good. As insurance, though, Atlanta pushed across three more runs: Jason Heyward homered in the seventh; later in the inning, a wild pitch led to another run; Ryan Doumit's sacrifice fly in the eighth capped the scoring. The Braves offense strung 10 hits together over the last three innings.

Once Minor left, the Atlanta bullpen shut down the Angels offense. Anthony Varvaro fired two innings in relief for the win. David Carpenter gave up a single and hit a batter; otherwise, the bullpen was perfect. Craig Kimbrel was used in the ninth, striking out the only two he faced for the save.

Win Expectancy