You had to figure that the Atlanta Braves starting pitching would fall down to earth eventually. The three starters in the California series, Jose Reyes, Charlie Morton and Jorge Campillo each turned in solid efforts. Jair Jurrgens cruised to a victory in yesterday’s makeup game at Colorado. But veteran Tim Hudson couldn’t keep the streak alive Tuesday night in Arlington, Texas.
Hudson was chased with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, having surrendered six runs on six hits. Texas Ranger’s starter Vincente Padilla responded well to the early lead. The elderly Padilla cruised through five innings. He faded in the top of the sixth, surrendering two runs to Atlanta, but he escaped the inning without further damage. Former closer Eddie Guardado gave up three runs on a 3-run homerun to Braves catcher Brian McCann in the top of the eighth, but it was all for naught. Atlanta went on to lose, 7-5. Third-baseman Chipper Jones went 0 for2 with two walks and remains at .400.
It’s hard to believe Texas is only a .500 team. Josh Hamilton is putting up MVP type numbers in centerfield. 2B Ian Kinsler made a couple of outstanding plays defensively tonight, and he’s second in All-Star voting at 2B in the American League. Catcher Gerald Laird is hitting .298 and DH Milton Bradley (the angriest man in MLB) is hitting a cool .330. Padilla pitched well against a Braves team that gave him fits during his years in Philadelphia.
Tomorrow the Braves look to JoJo Reyes to extend his string of quality starts against Texas rookie RHP Eric Hurley.
