| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME LOG
ATLANTA (AP) -- Ho hum. Another homer for Andres Galarraga. Another dominating performance by the Atlanta pitchers. Another Braves victory.
Galarraga moved back into a tie for the NL home-run lead, hitting his eighth of the season to back seven strong innings from Kevin Millwood as the Braves won their ninth in a row, 5-1 over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday night.
|  | | Kevin Millwood did not allow an earned run in his seven innings of work. |
"We're really playing good," Galarraga said. "The pitching is good. The defense is good. We're hitting. We're hitting for power. The bullpen is doing good. It's hard to beat that."
Andruw Jones and Chipper Jones also hit back-to-back homers for the Braves, whose winning streak is their longest since they put together 10 consecutive victories from Aug. 19-29 last season.
The Braves will try to complete a 9-0 homestand and a three-game sweep of the Dodgers when the teams meet Thursday at Turner Field.
"That's something pretty special," Chipper Jones said. "There's not too many 10-game winning streaks. There's not too many 9-0 homestands. With all the parity in baseball these days, you just don't do that very often. Usually, you'll run up against a tough pitcher who shuts you down."
Instead, it's the Dodgers who keep getting shut down. They finally broke a 24-inning scoreless streak with an unearned run in the fourth, but they hardly look like the team that scored 36 runs during a sweep in Cincinnati just last weekend.
After losing 1-0 to the New York Mets on Monday, Los Angeles went down by the same score to the Braves on Tuesday as Tom Glavine pitched a three-hitter.
"We have a good hitting team," said Los Angeles starter Eric Gagne, who gave up all three Atlanta homers. "They just pitched better than we did. Millwood pitched great today, and Glavine did yesterday. There's nothing you can do about that."
Despite pitching with flu-like symptoms, Millwood (2-0) allowed only five hits and struck out seven. The Dodgers' lone run scored when shortstop Walt Weiss booted Gagne's slow grounder up the middle with the bases loaded, but Millwood escaped further trouble with a backdoor curve that froze Todd Hollandsworth for a called third strike.
The Braves have allowed only 17 runs during their winning streak, an amazing number in this era of the long ball.
"Sooner or later, somebody has to lose," Millwood said. "Nobody wants to be that guy."
Atlanta broke through in the third against Gagne (0-1), who allowed five hits in six innings.
Andruw Jones hit a 2-1 fastball into the left-center field seats for his fifth homer of the season. Two pitches later, Chipper Jones hit another high fastball into the right-field bleachers for his fourth homer.
Galarraga, continuing his amazing comeback from cancer, added another solo homer in the sixth to give the Braves a 3-1 lead. Once again, Gagne was burned when he tried to blow a fastball by an Atlanta hitter.
"He threw the ball well," Dodgers manager Davey Johnson said. "There were just a couple of sequences that didn't work out very well."
Galarraga began the night one off the NL home-run lead, shared by Arizona's Steve Finley and San Francisco's Barry Bonds. Montreal's Vladimir Guerrero and Chicago's Shane Andrews also claimed a share of the top spot with homers Wednesday night.
Atlanta added two more runs in the seventh against Alan Mills on RBI singles by Quilvio Veras and Chipper Jones.
Mike Remlinger and John Rocker finished for the Braves, whose bullpen has allowed only one earned run in 19 1/3 innings during the winning streak. Rocker loaded the bases with three walks in the ninth, but got Devon White to ground into a double play to end it.
The Dodgers' frustration was summed up in the eighth by Gary Sheffield, who was ejected after arguing on a checked-swing third strike.
Game notes
The Braves tied a club record with their 10th straight home victory. Before winning the first eight games on this homestand, Atlanta had two victories against San Francisco at Turner Field. ... Atlanta outfielder Reggie Sanders went 0-for-3 to stretch his hitless streak to 30 consecutive at-bats. ... Despite the loss, the Dodgers' 11-9 start is still their best since 1997. .... There were some noticeable boos when Rocker sprinted in from the bullpen, although most of the crowd gave him another standing ovation.
| |
ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Los Angeles Clubhouse
Atlanta Clubhouse
RECAPS
NY Yankees 2
Minnesota 0
Boston 14
Texas 4
Cleveland 5
Seattle 3
Chi. White Sox 11
Baltimore 6
Kansas City 7
Tampa Bay 6
Anaheim 6
Detroit 1
Toronto 4
Oakland 2
San Francisco 8
Florida 7
Atlanta 5
Los Angeles 1
Chicago Cubs 13
Houston 8
Montreal 9
Colorado 2
Arizona 10
Philadelphia 4
Pittsburgh 9
San Diego 8
Cincinnati 12
NY Mets 1
St. Louis 7
Milwaukee 0
|
