A PITCHERS DUEL WITHOUT WINNERS
Maddux, Thomson Battle to Stalemate
ATLANTA, June 4 (AP) - John Thomson and Greg Maddux matched zeroes for eight
innings but both came away with a no-decision. The Atlanta Braves finally
pushed across an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth against the Texas
Rangers' bullpen to complete a 1-0 victory at Turner Field. It was the
fourth straight win for the Braves and the ninth consecutive loss for the
Rangers.
Texas holds the worst earned run average in the major leagues but you wouldn't
have known it based on Thomson's performance. The Rangers right-hander
held Atlanta to five hits in eight shutout innings. But Maddux was every
bit as good, stifling the potent Texas bats on five hits--three of them off the
bat of Hank Blalock--in eight scoreless frames.
The first really good scoring opportunity in the game came in the top of the
sixth when Blalock lashed a triple into the right field corner with just one
out. But the Braves pulled the infield in and Maddux induced a weak
grounder to short off the bat of Alex Rodriguez with Blalock holding at
third. Rafael Palmeiro then rolled out to second to end the inning.
Brian Shouse replaced Thomson on the mound to start the bottom ninth for the
Rangers and immediately ran into trouble. Chipper Jones led off with a
single and pinch hitter Julio Franco lined a double to left, with Jones stopping
at third. Shouse walked Vinny Castilla to fill the bases and when Braves
skipper Bobby Cox summoned Mark DeRosa to pinch hit for Darren Bragg, Rangers
manager Buck Showalter countered with Reynaldo Garcia. Garica retired
DeRosa on a weak pop fly to third and then faced another pinch hitter, Andruw
Jones. With the infield still drawn in to cut off the potential winning
run at the plate, Garcia got Jones to ground to short, but Rodriguez let the
ball go right through his legs for an error, allowing Chipper Jones to score the
winning run.
This was the 15th 1-0 game played in the majors thus far this season and only
the second time that a scoreless deadlock was broken in the ninth inning.
The Braves dropped a 1-0 game to the Florida Marlins on April 4 at Turner Field
when the Marlins pushed a run across in the top of the ninth.
6/4/2003, Tex03-Atl03, Turner Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Rangers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 5 2 2003 Braves 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 7 0 9 0 Rangers AB R H BI AVG Braves AB R H BI AVG Young,M 2b 4 0 0 0 .242 Furcal ss 3 0 2 0 .335 Blalock 3b 4 0 3 0 .397 Giles,M 2b 4 0 0 0 .371 Rodriguez,A ss 4 0 0 0 .330 Sheffield rf 3 0 1 0 .308 Palmeiro,R 1b 4 0 0 0 .231 Jones,C lf 4 1 1 0 .240 Gonzalez,Ju rf 4 0 0 0 .243 Fick 1b 3 0 0 0 .302 Everett,C cf 3 0 0 0 .284 Franco,Ju ph 1 0 1 0 .392 Teixeira lf 3 0 1 0 .257 Castilla 3b 3 0 0 0 .260 Diaz,E c 3 0 0 0 .284 Bragg cf 2 0 1 0 .296 Thomson p 3 0 1 0 .333 DeRosa ph 1 0 0 0 .309 Shouse p 0 0 0 0 .000 Blanco c 3 0 0 0 .138 Garcia,Re p 0 0 0 0 .000 Jones,A ph 1 0 0 0 .237 32 0 5 0 Maddux p 2 0 1 0 .207 Franco,M ph 1 0 0 0 .321 Hernandez,Ro p 0 0 0 0 .000 31 1 7 0 Rangers INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Thomson 8.0 5 0 0 3 6 116 72 4.88 Shouse L 0-2 0.0 2 1 0 1 0 12 5 1.89 Garcia,Re 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 6 3 4.66 8.1 7 1 0 4 6 134 80 Braves INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Maddux 8.0 5 0 0 0 7 92 67 3.59 Hernandez,Ro W 2-1 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 17 10 7.36 9.0 5 0 0 0 8 109 77 Atl: Franco,M batted for Maddux in the 8th Franco,Ju batted for Fick in the 9th DeRosa batted for Bragg in the 9th Jones,A batted for Blanco in the 9th E-Rodriguez,A. 2B-Blalock 2(16), Thomson(1), Franco,Ju(8). 3B-Blalock(3). SB-Furcal(5). K-Young,M, Rodriguez,A 2, Gonzalez,Ju 2, Everett,C, Diaz,E, Thomson, Giles,M, Sheffield, Jones,C, Fick, Castilla, Blanco. BB-Furcal, Sheffield, Castilla, Bragg. WP-Thomson. Temperature: 77, Sky: cloudy, Wind: left to right at 12 MPH. Attendance: 29,121 Game Time: 2:35