The Atlanta Braves beat the Houston Astros 7-6 in what had to be the game of the year Sunday at Turner Field. After an epic sixteen and a half innings, the Braves prevailed on the strength of a bases loaded Mark Teixeira walk-off single in the bottom of the seventeenth. Leftfielder Gregor Blanco led of the inning with a seeing-eye single, shortstop Yunel Escobar followed with a bunt single down the third base line and third baseman Chipper Jones hit a third single to load the bases. With Teixeira coming to bat, Houston manager Cecil Cooper employed a radical defensive alignment with two outfielders and five infielders. But it proved to be a trivial move when Teixeira hit a run scoring “single” off the top of the leftfield wall to score Blanco from third.
While Teixeira was clearly the offensive hero, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity were it not for a sensational leaping catch from Escobar in the top of the fifteenth. With the infield in, Escobar leaped high in the air to his right and backhanded a hard hit ball off the bat of Houston third baseman Ty Wiggington to hold runners at second and third; reliever Manny Acosta then recorded the third out to escape the inning.
The Atlanta bullpen to a man (and there were several) pitched lights out from the seventh inning on; a combination of Blaine Boyer, Will Ohman, Mike Gonzalez, Buddy Carlyle, Manny Acosta and Royce Ring allowed no runs on eight hits in the remaining eleven innings. Starter Charlie Morton pitched well aside from allowing a third inning grand slam to Wiggington.
The Philadelphia Phillies lost an extra inning affair of their own to the New York Mets, moving Atlanta to within six games of the division lead. The Braves will take a delayed flight to Los Angeles tonight to face the Dodgers in the first of a three game set tomorrow evening at Chavez Ravine. They’ll look to the effervesent Jorge (the Mexican Maddux) Campillo to keep the momentum alive against L.A. righthander Chad Billingsley in the opener.
I certainly don’t want to jump the gun, but today’s prizefight is the type of game that can turn a season around, even a season as dismal as the one Atlanta has endured to this point. The Braves look to turn in a winning west coast trip and go into the All-Star break with a flourish.
Utility man Omar Infante left Sunday’s game early having reaggravated his hamstring injury; Acosta had to be helped off the field by Brave’s trainer Jeff Porter and Tim Hudson in the bottom of the sixteenth when he pulled a hamstring in an attempt to avoid bunting into a double play.
Chipper Jones and catcher Brian McCann will be participating in this year’s All Star game; Jones will be the starting 3B in his first All-Star game since 2002.
Minor League notes
InRich.com’s Tim Peardell had this quote from AAA Richmond pitching coach Guy Hansen in regards to reliever Jeff Ridgeway’s sixth inning shellacking Saturday night: “He needs to settle down and have a good chat with himself…that won’t play for any team in the major leagues”. Guess Guy’s not one to mince words…outfielders Jeff Francoeur and Matt Diaz both went 1 for 4 in AA Mississippi’s Saturday loss to Chatanooga…The Ashville Tourists completed a four game sweep of A Rome with a 4-1 win Sunday…Mike Hampton threw five scoreless innings for A Myrtle Beach Saturday, his next start will be at AA Mississippi Thursday
