| Scoreboard | ||||||||||||
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Atlanta (23-20) « | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 1 |
| Pittsburgh (18-25) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 1 |
PITTSBURGH -- Derek Lowe remained unbeaten against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Melky Cabrera hit his first home run for Atlanta to help the Braves extend their season-best winning streak to five games with a 4-2 victory Saturday night.
After the start was delayed 92 minutes by rain, Lowe (6-4) needed 99 pitches to get through five innings but improved to 8-0 against the Pirates. He allowed two runs and five hits while walking four and striking out five.
Home runs by Cabrera and Eric Hinske off major league loss leader Charlie Morton (1-8) staked Lowe to a 3-0 lead.
Cabrera led off the second with a line drive into the right-field stands and Chipper Jones drove home a second run in the inning with a groundout.
Cabrera, acquired from the New York Yankees in an offseason trade for Javier Vazquez, raised his batting average to .210 by going 2 for 4.
Hinske made it 3-0 when he homered to right-center leading off the third.
Pittsburgh, which lost its third straight game, scored both its runs off Lowe in the fifth. Ryan Church doubled and scored on Lastings Milledge's triple to center. Ronny Cedeno drove in Milledge with a squeeze bunt.
The Braves took advantage of wildness by reliever Joel Hanrahan in the ninth to add an insurance run. Martin Prado scored on a two-out wild pitch as Brian McCann struck out but reached first base. Hanrahan had walked the bases loaded.
Pittsburgh manager John Russell was ejected by first base umpire Tim Timmons for arguing that McCann should have been called out when he reached on the wild pitch.
Billy Wagner pitched a scoreless ninth for his fifth save in six opportunities. Four relievers combined to shut out the Pirates over the last four innings.
Church and Milledge had three hits each. Church snapped an 0-for-19 skid.
Morton gave up three runs, two earned, and six hits in six innings with three walks and three strikeouts. He lowered his ERA to 8.71, the highest in the major leagues among starting pitchers with at least 20 innings.
Notes
Pittsburgh 2B Aki Iwamura, making his first start in a week because of a hamstring injury, went 0 for 3 with two walks and extended his streak of hitless at-bats to 32. ... Atlanta SS Yunel Escobar was 0 for 4 and is 3 for 28 since a stint on the disabled list with a strained left adductor muscle in his groin.
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| Melky Cabrera, who's had a lackluster start for the Braves, blasts his first home run in the second. (AP) |
| Players of the Game |
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| Atlanta Braves | ||||||||
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Martin Prado, 2B | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .315 |
| Jason Heyward, RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .290 |
| Chipper Jones, 3B | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .237 |
| Billy Wagner, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Brian McCann, C | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .258 |
| Eric Hinske, 1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .358 |
| a- Troy Glaus, PH-1B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .277 |
| Yunel Escobar, SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .187 |
| Melky Cabrera, LF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .210 |
| Nate McLouth, CF | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .198 |
| Derek Lowe, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .067 |
| b- Brooks Conrad, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .241 |
| Peter Moylan, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Eric O'Flaherty, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Takashi Saito, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| c- Omar Infante, PH-3B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .299 |
| Totals | 34 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 7 | ||
| a-popped out for Hinske in the 8th | ||||||||
| b-struck out for Lowe in the 6th | ||||||||
| c-struck out for Saito in the 9th | ||||||||
| Batting | ||||||||
| HR - Eric Hinske (3, Morton), Melky Cabrera (1, Morton) | ||||||||
| SH - Derek Lowe (5) | ||||||||
| RBI - Chipper Jones (13), Eric Hinske (19), Melky Cabrera (9) | ||||||||
| SB - Martin Prado (1, 2nd base off Hanrahan/Doumit) | ||||||||
| CS - Brian McCann (1, 2nd base by Morton/Jaramillo) | ||||||||
| Team LOB - 10 | ||||||||
| Fielding | ||||||||
| DP - Hinske | ||||||||
| E - Chipper Jones (5, Misplayed grounder) | ||||||||
| Atlanta Braves | ||||||||
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Derek Lowe (W,6-4) | 5 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 5.30 |
| Peter Moylan (H,7) | 1.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.08 |
| Eric O'Flaherty (H,3) | 0.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.00 |
| Takashi Saito (H,3) | 1.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3.38 |
| Billy Wagner (S,5) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2.25 |
| WP - Derek Lowe (3) | ||||||||
| Pitches-Strikes - Derek Lowe 99-56, Peter Moylan 21-13, Eric O'Flaherty 7-5, Takashi Saito 29-17, Billy Wagner 16-7 | ||||||||
| Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Derek Lowe 9-1, Peter Moylan 3-1, Takashi Saito 1-0 | ||||||||
| Batters Faced - Derek Lowe 24, Peter Moylan 6, Eric O'Flaherty 2, Takashi Saito 7, Billy Wagner 4 | ||||||||
| Pittsburgh Pirates | ||||||||
| Hitters | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG |
| Akinori Iwamura, 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .152 |
| Bobby Crosby, 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | .242 |
| Joel Hanrahan, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Andrew McCutchen, CF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .319 |
| Garrett Jones, 1B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .265 |
| Ryan Church, RF | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .229 |
| a- Steve Pearce, PH | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .280 |
| Lastings Milledge, LF | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .259 |
| Ronny Cedeno, SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .234 |
| Jason Jaramillo, C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .242 |
| b- Delwyn Young, PH-3B | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .222 |
| Charlie Morton, P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .000 |
| c- Jeff Clement, PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .180 |
| Javier Lopez, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| Evan Meek, P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| d- Ryan Doumit, PH-C | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .273 |
| Totals | 34 | 2 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 10 | ||
| a-walked for Church in the 9th | ||||||||
| b-singled for Jaramillo in the 8th | ||||||||
| c-grounded out for Morton in the 6th | ||||||||
| d-grounded out for Meek in the 8th | ||||||||
| Batting | ||||||||
| 2B - Ryan Church (6, Lowe) | ||||||||
| 3B - Lastings Milledge (1, Lowe) | ||||||||
| SH - Ronny Cedeno (1), Charlie Morton (2) | ||||||||
| RBI - Lastings Milledge (15), Ronny Cedeno (11) | ||||||||
| SB - Akinori Iwamura (3, 2nd base off Moylan/McCann) | ||||||||
| Team LOB - 14 | ||||||||
| Fielding | ||||||||
| E - Ronny Cedeno (4, Throwing) | ||||||||
| Pittsburgh Pirates | ||||||||
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
| Charlie Morton (L,1-8) | 6 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 8.71 |
| Javier Lopez | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.08 |
| Evan Meek | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.67 |
| Joel Hanrahan | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4.76 |
| WP - Joel Hanrahan 2 (2) | ||||||||
| Pitches-Strikes - Charlie Morton 109-65, Javier Lopez 13-7, Evan Meek 16-9, Joel Hanrahan 31-15 | ||||||||
| Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Charlie Morton 11-4, Javier Lopez 2-0, Evan Meek 1-2 | ||||||||
| Batters Faced - Charlie Morton 27, Javier Lopez 4, Evan Meek 3, Joel Hanrahan 7 | ||||||||
| Game Information |
| Attendance - 26519 |
| Game Time - 3:31 |
| Temperature - 64 |
| Umpires - Home - Alfonso Marquez, First Base - Tim Timmons, Second Base - Tim Tschida, Third Base - Bob Davidson |
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