ATL@PHI: Jurrjens stifles Phils over 6 1/3 innings
PHILADELPHIA -- When the Phillies added Cliff Lee to their already talented cast of pitchers this offseason, many Braves players quickly said they felt their rotation could stack up to the vaunted one Philadelphia now possessed.
With five weeks of this season complete, they can still confidently hold this belief.
It is far too early to declare which of these strong rotations will prove to be the National League's finest. But as Jair Jurrjens outdueled Cole Hamels during a 5-2 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Sunday night, the Braves made an early statement and proved that their recent success has not been a fluke.
"They're really good," Braves third baseman Chipper Jones said of the Phillies. "Do they have some weaknesses? Yeah, they've got some weaknesses. Starting pitching ain't one of them. Can they be beat? Yeah, they can be beat. By most teams in the National League? No. But all we care about is that we can play with them."
While beating both Hamels and Lee this past weekend, the Braves claimed a series victory and moved to within 3 1/2 games of the first-place Phillies in the NL East. They have won 12 of their past 16 games with the strength of a pitching staff that was significantly upgraded when Jurrjens returned after missing the season's first two weeks with a strained right oblique muscle.
The Braves' recent success has been fueled by their starters, who have gone 9-1 with a 2.06 ERA in the past 17 games. The Atlanta rotation has posted an NL-best 2.90 ERA and the Phillies rank second with a 3.09 mark.
"That's the team you want to beat," Jurrjens said. "They're the guys we're chasing in our division, and I think that's the team to beat in the National League. It's always exciting to go against the best team and the team everybody wants to beat, especially going against one of their aces. It's awesome going out there and trying to show your talent against the best."
Freeman's fourth homer of the season highlighted his career-best three-hit performance, which he produced while wearing pink shoes in honor of his mother, Rosemary Freeman, who died of melanoma when the 21-year-old first baseman was just 10 years old.
Standing as some of the many Major Leaguers who took time Sunday to wear pink to promote the fight against breast cancer, Gonzalez and Eric Hinske used pink bats when they hit their homers in this series finale. Hinske's two-run, eighth-inning shot provided the Braves some cushion.
"Gonzo's two-run homer in the second inning was big," Freeman said. "Hamels is a No. 1 guy for a lot of teams. We seem to never miss him. We were able to get on him early and JJ shut them down. It was a good win today."
While he might not have been as impressive as he had been in recent starts, Jurrjens still managed to limit the Phillies to one run while allowing eight hits over 6 1/3 innings. He is now 3-1 with a 1.80 ERA in six career starts at Citizens Bank Park.
With his normal fastball sitting around 88 mph, a few ticks below normal, Jurrjens relied heavily on his sinker.
"The biggest thing I see with JJ is he's competing," Jones said. "That's what you want every night. JJ is competing and we all feed off of that."
Unsuccessful in his bid to win a fourth consecutive start, Hamels allowed three earned runs and five hits in seven innings. The two homers he surrendered matched the total he had allowed in his first six starts combined.
"A couple of the pitches were pretty good," Hamels said. "They were just able to get them in the air. You get the ball in the air in this park with enough on it you can get it out."
Hinske increased the Braves' lead and extended the power barrage with his towering two-run, eighth-inning homer off Michael Stutes. The homer proved to be key as the Phillies mounted multiple late-inning threats.
The Phillies made things interesting in the eighth inning against Jonny Venters, who had allowed just one run and six hits in the previous 17 2/3 innings he had completed this season. Attempting to protect a four-run lead, he allowed Shane Victorino to produce a leadoff triple and score when Placido Polanco followed with an infield single.
After a Ryan Howard groundout, Ben Francisco and John Mayberry Jr. ended the threat with long drives caught in the outfield. Craig Kimbrel added to Fredi Gonzalez's stress when he issued Jimmy Rollins a four-pitch walk to put runners at first and second with one out in the ninth.
But the Braves closer got Victorino to look at a called third strike and then sealed the series victory with a Polanco fly ball that Nate McLouth secured in right-center.
"We were checking the gas tank with a match those last three innings and we got away from it," Fredi Gonzalez said.
Mark Bowman is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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