Tim Hudson’s pitching helps Atlanta Braves defeat Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 – MLB Update
Tim Hudson personified perfection as he put on a brilliant display of pitching to help the Atlanta Braves beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 at Turner Field, Atlanta on Monday, June 20.
After pitching eight shut-out innings, the Braves’ starter Hudson, then showed his brilliance with bat to accomplish a victory for his team.
Monday’s game which was in effect dominated by the starters began with Hudson pitching a shut-out inning. His wonderful first inning pitching was followed by Ricky Romero who gave up two hits in the inning, but not allowing any runs.
Hudson, whose June record does not make a good read with 14 innings pitched allowing 10 runs and 18 hits has had an ERA of 5.79. However, Hudson remained unyielding here, confidently attacking the Jays’ offence.
An overall 3.73 ERA in 2011 regular season keeps Hudson a natural choice for the team. Romero, who has an ERA of 3.23 in June, maintains a good record having allowed only 11 runs and giving up 28 hits.
While the two rivals come with a different set of records with one excelling and being superior to another, it was Hudson who was pitching hitless innings. Hudson appeared on the mound in the fifth inning to face Romero, but could not execute it to the perfection.
After the seven scoreless innings that he pitched, Hudson was facing Romero in the bottom of seventh inning as a hitter for the Braves. He homered to left to show his tremendous skill not only with the ball, but with the bat as well.
"Romero was really good," Hudson said after raising his batting average 31 points to .071. "He had a good heater. It was nice to go out there and feel good and feel like everything was under control and in sync.”
Hudson’s two-run homer gave the Braves’ a 2-0 lead which he then preserved with his equally invincible pitching. Having shown his class with bat, Hudson pitched a scoreless 8th and one-hit ninth inning to pave the way to a 2-0 victory for the
Braves.
“It's hard to say there's anything better," Hudson said. "Obviously, you (nearly) throw a shutout and hit a homer, you win the game. It was fun, man, It was a lot of fun."
Having established a 1-0 lead in the three-game series, the Braves will face the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday in the second game in a hope to put in another dominating performance and take the series win.
The Braves showed good form throughout the game, as their defence pull through for them. The Blue Jays had a decent performance, but it was not enough for a victory.
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