Hanson's shutout innings help Braves overpower Giants 4-1 – MLB Update
The National League’s franchise Atlanta Braves’ starter, Tommy Hanson, pitched seven shutout innings in the Club’s 4-1 triumph over their league rival the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park in California on Friday night, April 22.
Hanson entered the field in an electrifying atmosphere and repeated the performance he presented last year in October at the same venue. The 24-year-old pitcher utilised his fastballs and did not give any hit in his first six innings.
The right-hand ball thrower had 'no-decision' in the second outing of the three-game series and the Braves clinched their ninth game in the Major League Baseball season.
The importance of the game for Hanson was evident from the words he told to the reporters. Hanson was of the opinion, "I'm not going to lie: It felt similar to the playoffs. I did not have the greatest playoff start here last time.
I wanted to go out and give us a chance to win."
The Braves made the game a nightmare for the Giants’ struggling starter, Madison Bumgarner. In the third inning, the Braves’ right-fielder, Jason Heyward, led off the game with a RBI single off Madison. Chipper Jones added an RBI
double and Freddie Freeman aggravated the situation for Bumgarner touching the fourth run of the inning. It forced the Giants to relieve Bumgarner as the score had moved to 4-0.
Bumgarner had a winning record in the division series clincher at the Turner Field as Giants sophisticated to countenance the Phillies in the NLCS. Bumgarner was the youngest pitcher in franchise history to win a post-season game,
but in spite of making four starts, he is still striving for his first triumph of 2011.
Vogelsong relieved Bumgarner in the fourth and gave impressive back-up pitching three and 1/3 innings and did not allow any run. The reliever, Guillermo Mota and Dan Runzler, and the closer, Sergio Romo, created some relief for the
manger, Bruce Bochy, tossing scoreless innings.
The Giants had good record against the Braves, but they could not display any special performance against Hanson until Pat Burrell’s RBI groundout in the seventh.
The Giants' catcher, Buster Posey, who touched Hansen for third hit, was impressed with Hansen and said. "He didn't miss on the plate very much," Posey said. "I didn't feel like I had too many good pitches to hit until the third time
through."
The Braves' reliever Jonny Venters relieved Hanson and threw a perfect eighth inning. Craig Kimbrel made his fifth save in six chances earning the much-needed victory for the Club, according to the Braves’ rookie manager Fredi Gonzalez.
He further added that it was a big game for the club after losing to Dodgers on Thursday.
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