Atlanta Braves beat San Diego Padres 2-0 as Kris Medlen completes eighth innings scoreless-MLB
Starter Kris Medlen throws eight scoreless innings as the Atlanta Braves defeat the San Diego Padres 2-0 at Petco Park, San Diego, California on August 28, 2012 in the second game of the three match series.
Padres were disallowed from scoring a single run in the match. Despite connecting six hits, they were unable to send the base-runners aboard.
Medlen completed an immaculate spell on the mound and earned the win.
While most of the times the Braves’ starters leaked runs from the beginning and then their relievers step up and control the damage, it was not the case on Tuesday. Medlen threw the chunk of the innings as the starting pitcher and lightened the burden on
the bullpen as a result.
He yielded five hits and struck-out nine, which tells the dominance with which he outwitted batters. Following his footstep, Craig Kimbrel, who did the closing job, was scoreless.
By the time Kimbrel stepped on the mound, the Padres had the opportunity to score a number of runs and win the game because from there on the Braves did not have any time to bounce back.
While Atlanta turned out to be victorious, not the best of the performance that can be expected from their offence was seen. As they struck just seven hits in the game, batters were far from what they are known for.
Thanks to the double by third baseman Chipper Jones and the home-run by the second baseman Dan Uggla, they were able to post a lead.
The hit that Jones slammed in the game reflects a positive sign for the team as the 40-year struggled in the last couple of matches and had to sit out in some of them due to fitness problems.
Meanwhile, Medlen is conscious of his responsibilities as a starter and how he has to evade losing focus.
"It doesn't matter to me," said Medlen. "We're winning games and that's all that really matters. When you start worrying about stuff like that, that's when you start getting off your plan and off focus. I just want to stay focused and take it a start at
a time, and whatever else cliche I can say."
The Braves will be looking to win the series by putting up an equally impressive performance in the last match of the series.
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