LATE SOLO HRS PRODUCE BRAVES WALK-OFF 'W'
Simmons, B. Upton Key Atlanta Comeback
ATLANTA, May 2 (AP) - Andrelton Simmons hit a game-tying solo home run in the
bottom of the ninth and B.J. Upton followed with a walk-off long ball of his own
in the bottom of the 10th as the Atlanta Braves rallied late for a 2-1 victory
over the San Francisco Giants at Turner Field. The late offensive heroics
made a winner of Craig Kimbrel, who tossed a perfect top of the 10th for the
Braves. Juan Gutierrez yielded Upton's one-out home run and absorbed the
loss.
The late game fireworks overshadowed a pair of strong starts. Atlanta's
Mike Minor, making his season's debut, allowed one run on three hits over seven
innings of work, but was on the hook for the defeat when he was lifted for a
pinch hitter in the bottom of the seventh. San Francisco's Tim Lincecum
threw shutout ball for 6 2/3 before he was removed in favor of reliever Javier
Lopez in the seventh and was in line for the victory until Simmons tied the game
in the ninth.
The contest remained scoreless until the sixth inning when Angel Pagan came to
the plate with the bases empty and one out and drilled the first offering he saw
from Minor over the left-center field wall. Pagan's third home run of the
season gave the Giants a 1-0 lead.
Lincecum pitched into the seventh and was lifted with two outs and the potential
tying run on second in the form of Ramiro Pena. But Lopez came on and
retired Jason Heyward on a fly ball to right to end the inning.
The Giants nursed their 1-0 advantage into the bottom of the ninth and closer
Sergio Romo came on to get the final three outs. But Simmons lined a 1-1
slider into the seats just inside the left field foul pole for his second home
run of the year and a tie game.
Kimbrel set San Francisco down in order in the top of the tenth and Gutierrez
took the mound for the Giants in the bottom half. Upton worked the count
full and then drove a fastball over the fence in left for the walk-off win.
The Braves have struggled mightily on offense thus far this season.
Atlanta is ranked dead last in the major leagues in runs per game.
Entering this game with the Giants, the Braves had hit only 12 home runs in 27
previous contests, but the long ball was the club's asset this day.
5/2/2014, SF14-Atl14, Turner Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E LOB DP 2014 Giants 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 2 3 0 2014 Braves 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 7 0 9 2 Giants AB R H BI AVG Braves AB R H BI AVG Pagan cf 4 1 1 1 .300 Heyward rf 5 0 0 0 .221 Pence rf 3 0 0 0 .327 Upton,B cf 5 1 2 1 .228 Posey 1b 4 0 1 0 .276 Freeman,F 1b 4 0 1 0 .255 Morse lf 4 0 2 0 .309 Upton,J lf 4 0 1 0 .232 Romo p 0 0 0 0 .000 Johnson,C 3b 4 0 1 0 .221 Gutierrez p 0 0 0 0 .000 Simmons,A ss 4 1 1 1 .228 Sandoval 3b 4 0 0 0 .279 Pena,R 2b 1 0 1 0 .241 Sanchez,H c 4 0 0 0 .107 Laird c 2 0 0 0 .077 Hicks,B 2b 3 0 0 0 .177 Gattis ph 2 0 0 0 .299 Crawford,B ss 3 0 0 0 .189 Minor p 2 0 0 0 .000 Lincecum p 2 0 0 0 .000 Schafer,J ph 1 0 0 0 .250 Lopez,J p 0 0 0 0 .000 Thomas p 0 0 0 0 .000 Arias ph 1 0 0 0 .244 Carpenter,DD p 0 0 0 0 .000 Casilla,S p 0 0 0 0 .000 Doumit ph 1 0 0 0 .176 Blanco,G lf 0 0 0 0 .200 Kimbrel p 0 0 0 0 .000 32 1 4 1 35 2 7 2 Giants INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Lincecum 6.2 4 0 0 2 7 97 54 3.63 Lopez,J H 5 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0.00 Casilla,S H 5 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 10 6 0.73 Romo BS 2 1.0 1 1 1 1 1 16 10 3.38 Gutierrez L 0-1 0.0 1 1 1 0 0 6 3 4.22 9.0 7 2 2 3 8 130 74 Braves INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Minor 7.0 3 1 1 2 5 95 60 1.29 Thomas 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 5 4 1.13 Carpenter,DD 1.2 1 0 0 0 0 18 10 3.48 Kimbrel W 1-0 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 14 9 0.00 10.0 4 1 1 2 8 132 83 SF : Arias batted for Lopez,J in the 8th Blanco,G inserted at lf in the 9th Atl: Gattis batted for Laird in the 7th Schafer,J batted for Minor in the 7th Gattis moved to c in the 8th Doumit batted for Carpenter,DD in the 9th E-Sanchez,H, Hicks,B. 2B-Morse(7), Freeman,F(8), Johnson,C(6). HR-Pagan(3), Upton,B(3), Simmons,A(2). RBI-Pagan(13), Upton,B(9), Simmons,A(5). SB-Upton,B(3), Upton,J(1). K-Pagan, Morse, Sandoval, Sanchez,H, Crawford,B 2, Lincecum 2, Upton,B, Freeman,F, Upton,J, Johnson,C, Laird 2, Minor, Doumit. BB-Pence, Hicks,B, Pena,R 3. GWRBI: Upton,B Temperature: 79, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: left to right at 15 MPH. Attendance: 35,704 Game Time: 2:50