Atlanta Braves defeat Los Angeles Dodgers 2-1 for second straight triumph – MLB Update
The Atlanta Braves romped to a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers with the help of a hit by Mark Kotsay in the second outing of the four-game series at Miller Park in Milwaukee on Tuesday, August 16.
Kotsay drove in a grounder to centre-field, scoring Prince Fielder for a game snatching run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Before this run, the game was tied at 1-all after the bottom of the second inning.
Corey Hart tied the game in the bottom of the second inning, smashing a fast grounder to third baseman, allowing Jerry Hairston Jr. to score.
Their starter Yovani Gallardo gave a run in the top of the second inning. After this run, he retaliated in a stunning manner and crushed out nine batters over his eight innings. He authorised only one walk and four hits over 114 pitches.
"You can't let up, you've still got to go out there and try to win every ballgame," Gallardo said. "We've still got more than a month to go, we're playing good baseball now. We've got to keep moving."
Takahashi Saito tossed scoreless ninth to get his fourth win of the season.
Dodgers’ Chad Billingsley fought equally hard with Gallardo and held the Braves to one run until the completion of his seven innings. He struck-out five batters and endorsed two walks to complete his spell extended to 93 pitches.
Matt Guerrier threw no-score eighth but Hong-Chih Kuo received a game defeating RBI run just after his five pitches and lost his second game of the 2011 regular season. Mike MacDougal gave two hits to allow the Brewers gain this RBI single.
Dodgers’ Aaron Miles made the only run of his club in the second inning. Besides him, Tony Gwynn, Matt Kemp and Juan Rivera were the other batters, who managed to touch a hit. Dodgers utilised ten batters for 31 at-bats, including Casey Blake, Andre Ethier,
Rod Barajas and Chad Billingsley, but none of them could manage even a single hit.
It was the second straight night when the Dodgers batting squad failed in such a humiliating manner. Last night they received a 3-0 shut-out. Having such a performance in the coming days may put the Dodgers out of the World Series race.
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