Jair Jurrjens helps Atlanta Braves defeat Pittsburgh Pirates 2-0 - MLB Update
The Atlanta Braves’ starter Jair Jurrjens had an outstanding day with the ball in the Braves 2-0 shut-out win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in the first outing of the two-game series, at the PNC Park, Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, May 24.
Jurrjens tossed seven innings, allowed six hits, walked one and struck out four batters to cement his sixth win of the season under cloudy weather. He was in control right from the start of the game. Jurrjens forced all three batters he faced in the first
inning to leave the field on a ground out.
Jair gave away two hits each in second and fifth inning but he did not allow the batters to steal second base. He threw 71 strikes of 97 total pitches to improve his record to 6-1 with a 1.56 ERA.
Reliever Jonny Venters, who replaced Jurrjens up the middle of the eighth innings, threw scoreless four pitches and struck out one batter to restrain the Pirates from getting a run. Closer Craig Kimbrel followed the same path set by the earlier pitchers
and struck out two batters to confirm the Braves’ 27th win in the 2011 Major League Baseball season.
On the other hand, the Pirates’ starter Charlie Morton yielded a RBI single each in the second and the third inning.
In the second inning, Alex Gonzalez drove in a single to steal first base and then moved to third on Freddie Freeman’s line drive to left side. With two bases loaded, Brooks Conrad hit a sacrifice fly to right to shatter the scoreless tie.
Morton has lost his momentum for a time being and therefore allowed a walk to Jordan Schafer before giving Martin Prado a shaky pitch for an RBI single in the third inning. Morton then struck back and did not yield more run until the end of his seven innings
spell. Besides two run scoring hits, he allowed five more hits and walked three batters to bear his third loss of the season.
Reliever Joe Beimel threw a perfect last two innings but remained helpless to take the game back into the Pirates’ side. Closer Evan Meek threw impressive last inning, took out three batters without allowing any hit on just 13 pitches.
As the chance was provided by the pitchers, the Pirates struggling batting line-up could take it and lingered vulnerably against the Braves’ closer Kimbrel.
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