Atlanta Braves beaten by San Francisco Giants 2-5 as Tommy Hanson gives up five runs - MLB Update
Starter Tommy Hanson leaks five runs as the Atlanta Braves fall to the San Francisco Giants 2-5 at AT&T Park, San Francisco, California on August 23, 2012 in the first match of the four game series.
Unlike what the Braves’ batters are generally seen doing, on Thursday they struggled to strike a greater number of hits. Connecting just six hits in the match, they allowed the Giants to record an easy victory.
Except for the last inning, the Braves were scoreless throughout the game.
On the other hand, the Giants dominated from the beginning. While they restricted Atlanta from one end, they experienced a run-rampage in the fifth and posted a substantial total on the scoreboard. In turn, they made it extremely difficult for the Braves
to fight back and run away with the victory.
Apart from the first baseman Freddie Freeman who doubled to deep centre, none of their batters contributed any RBI on Thursday. Freddie Freeman connected one hit in four at-bats.
What betrayed the Braves the most in the match was the poor show by the starter Tommy Hanson. As he yielded seven hits and gave up five runs in little more than four innings, only a miraculous performance from some of the hitters late in the innings could
save the team.
Meanwhile, Giants’ starter Barry Zito was nearly perfect except for the few poor throws by him.
Braves’ manager Fredi Gonzalez traces the failure in the batters inability to tackle the fastballs by Zito and follow the right strategy against him. He is of the view that the curveball and change-up by Zito proved the undoing of the team’s offence.
"He's left-handed and he frustrates us," Gonzalez said. "He throws that fastball just above the strike zone and spins the curve. We did not have a good approach against him early. We weren't very good. I don't know if it was Barry being dominant or us not
being good. He's deceptive and he can be frustrating with that curve and change."
It was just the first game of the series. Therefore in the remaining matches the Braves will be looking to improve and by doing so they can clinch the series victory.
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