Braves vs Rockies 5/2

5th Inning Rally Lifts Braves to 7-3 Victory

Woods best outing to date results in No Decision for the Hard throwing Ten year old

Baseball makes little to no sense sometimes. One day you face a dominating pitcher and you somehow bang out three doubles, the next day you see some nice slow cheese and you "K" four times. Such is the game, and it doesn't discriminate in the oddities it provides. Take the Braves and Padres for instance. Three games back, the Padres came from behind to defeat the Yankees 6-5. The Braves would beat the Yankees 18 -1 last Thursday. On that same night, the Padres put 20 runs on the board against the Rockies, yet today it would be the Braves scratching out a late inning win against a team they had beaten in their first meeting 17 to 9.

And that's just baseball. Saturday evening, good baseball was played in the nightcap between these two teams. It looked to be headed for another blowout early as Ricky Rivera lined a single to center in the first then scored on a double into the Right Center field Gap by Johnny Huizar. Huizar would score on a Rockie error off the bat of Brett Woods, but the bleeding would stop after that run in the first. In the third inning the combination of Rivera and Huizar would again hook up for another run. Rivera topped a pitch toward third which drew no throw from the Rockie Third baseman, Two batters later, Huizar would again come through with an RBI single, making it a 3-0 lead.

On the mound through the first three innings, Brett Woods appeared to be at his best yet this season. Mixing locations and speeds, Woods left after three to allow himself to be eligible at catcher , should something happen to backstop Jose Martinez.

Woods gave way to Huizar who appeared to labor through the final three innings, never seeming to find a comfortable landing spot off the hill.

In the fourth, Johnny gave up a one out infield single then walked three of the next four batters. With two outs and a chance to get out of the inning having given up only 1 run, the number 8 hitter in the Rockies lineup bounced a high chopper to Brett Woods at 1b. Woods however was playing deep and got a late break on the ball. Woods attempted to smother it on the short hop, but the ball shot past him then past second baseman Rivera and into right field scoring two more and tying it up. These would be the only runs the Rockies would score as Johnny pitched the final three innings, struggling with control at times, but battling as needed.

In his three inning, Woods faced one batter over the minimum gave up two hits and struck out four. For the final three innings, Huizar gave up only one hit, but walked 8 Rockies offsetting the impressive 8 strikeouts over the same period.

Braves bats were held in check in the fourth inning, but the fifth inning would be a different story. Bryant Valenzuela led off with a walk and promptly took second and third on wild pitches. At third with Rivera in the batters box, Valenzuela scored on Rivera's third hit in three trips. The RBI single was Rivera's 6th hit in as many at bats dating back to the 3 f0r 3 game Thursday in which he also walked. Jose Martinez came to the plate next with two uncharacteristic strikeouts on the day. Prior to the third at bat, a coach on the Braves staff remedied the strikeout curse with a super secret handshake. The result; Martinez lined a single up the middle scoring Rivera. Martinez advanced to second and three batters later Josh Marquez split the outfielders with a long RBI double. Marquez then manufactured a fourth run, displaying the jets to take third on a wild pitch and then score as the catchers throw sailed down the third base line making the score 7-4.

Huizar took the mound in the sixth with the obvious intention of giving the home crowd some excitement. Johnny struck out the first batter he faced, walked the next, struck out the next and walked two more to bring the tying run to the plate with two outs. Judging by the pattern above what is the logical answer to Johnny's confrontation with the Rockies nine hole hitter and two outs in the 6th? Yes exactly, strikeout. Just another exciting finish, courtesy of the entertainment specialist, Johnny Huizar.