BRAVES EXTEND 'W' STREAK TO 9
Gattis, Johnson Secure Key Hits

SAN FRANCISCO, May 14 (AP) - Chris Johnson's two-out single in the top of the 12th plated Justin Upton, snapping a 4-4 tie and leading the Atlanta Braves past the San Francisco Giants 5-4 at AT&T Park.  It was the ninth straight victory for the Braves, the longest winning streak in the major leagues thus far this year.  The streak has pushed Atlanta to a winning record for the first time this season.  Following a 9-18 start the Braves have won 11 of their last 12 games.

The game started out as a pitchers' duel between Julio Teheran of Atlanta and Madison Bumgarner of San Francisco, but the Braves drew first blood in the third when Ryan Doumit led off the inning with a home run.  The Giants knotted the score in the fifth when Michael Morse led off with a triple to right and scored on Tyler Colvin's sacrifice fly.

The scored was tied at one heading into the bottom of the sixth when the Giants appeared to seize control.  With two outs, Hunter Pence reached on an infield single and then scored the tie-breaking run when Buster Posey doubled to left-center.  Pablo Sandoval's opposite field home run scored two more and the Giants took a 4-1 lead into the seventh.  But the Braves fought back.  Johnson led off with a single and, one out later, trotted home on Doumit's second homer of the game.

Santiago Casilla tossed a scoreless eighth for the Giants, who took a 4-3 lead into the ninth.  Closer Sergio Romo was brought on to secure the win, but Gattis and the Braves had other ideas.  The Atlanta catcher picked on Romo's first pitch--a hanging slider--and drove it into the stands in left-center for a game-tying home run.  Johnson followed with a base hit and when Romo botched B.J. Upton's sacrifice bunt, the Braves had runners on first and second with no outs.  Doumit was then hit on the foot by a pitch, filling the bases.  But Romo induced Andrelton Simmons to ground to Sandoval at third who threw home for the force; Posey's relay to first was in time to complete the double play.  Romo intentionally walked pinch hitter Jason Heyward to load the bases and then completed the Houdini act by retiring Ramiro Pena on a grounder to end the inning.

Gattis and Johnson lined back-to-back two-out singles in the top of the tenth, but David Huff retired B.J. Upton to end the threat.

In the top of the 12th, Justin Upton drew a one-out walk from Huff.  Freddie Freeman popped up for the second out but Gattis rolled a single through the box for his fourth hit of the game.  Johnson then worked the count full and grounded a single into center field, scoring Upton to give the Braves the lead, 5-4. 

Craig Kimbrel, who still hasn't allowed an earned run this season in 16 appearances, came on for the Braves in the bottom of the 12th and fanned Morse, Colvin and Brandon Crawford to earn his 12th save of the year.

5/14/2014, Atl14-SF14, AT&T Park
 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12     R  H  E   LOB DP
2014 Braves            0  0  1  0  0  0  2  0  1  0  0  1     5 12  0    10  0
2014 Giants            0  0  0  0  1  3  0  0  0  0  0  0     4  6  1     3  2
 
Braves               AB  R  H BI   AVG    Giants               AB  R  H BI   AVG
Pastornicky       2b  3  0  0  0  .143    Blanco,G          cf  5  0  1  0  .200
 Pena,R           ph  3  0  0  0  .240    Pence             rf  5  1  1  0  .275
Upton,J           lf  4  1  0  0  .239    Posey             c   5  1  1  1  .279
Freeman,F         1b  6  0  2  0  .301    Sandoval          3b  4  1  1  2  .250
Gattis            c   6  1  4  1  .324     Huff             p   1  0  0  0  .000
 Kimbrel          p   0  0  0  0  .000    Morse             1b  5  1  2  0  .288
Johnson,C         3b  6  1  4  1  .248    Colvin            lf  2  0  0  1  .500
Upton,B           cf  5  0  0  0  .236    Crawford,B        ss  4  0  0  0  .195
Doumit            rf  3  2  2  3  .222    Hicks,B           2b  4  0  0  0  .130
 Wood,A           p   0  0  0  0  .154    Bumgarner         p   2  0  0  0  .318
 Uggla            ph  1  0  0  0  .133     Machi            p   0  0  0  0  .000
 Avilan           p   0  0  0  0  .000     Adrianza         ph  1  0  0  0  .209
 Laird            c   0  0  0  0  .162     Casilla,S        p   0  0  0  0  .000
Simmons,A         ss  5  0  0  0  .248     Romo             p   0  0  0  0  .000
Teheran           p   2  0  0  0  .050     Arias            3b  1  0  0  0  .190
 Schafer,J        ph  1  0  0  0  .233                         39  4  6  4
 Thomas           p   0  0  0  0  .000
 Carpenter,DD     p   0  0  0  0  .000
 Hale             p   0  0  0  0  .167
 Heyward          ph  1  0  0  0  .277
                     46  5 12  5
 
Braves                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Teheran                          6.0  5  4  4  0  8  80  57  4.21
Thomas                           0.1  0  0  0  1  0   5   1  1.00
Carpenter,DD                     0.2  0  0  0  0  0   6   4  3.46
Hale                             1.0  0  0  0  0  0   7   5  3.34
Wood,A                           2.0  1  0  0  1  2  31  17  3.75
Avilan           W 1-1           1.0  0  0  0  0  1  11   7  4.63
Kimbrel          S 12            1.0  0  0  0  0  3  15  10  0.00
                                12.0  6  4  4  2 14 155 101
 
Giants                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Bumgarner                        6.1  6  3  3  1  9 108  72  2.83
Machi            H 5             0.2  0  0  0  0  0  10   6  1.53
Casilla,S        H 6             1.0  0  0  0  0  1   9   6  0.57
Romo             BS 3            1.0  2  1  1  1  0  16  10  3.07
Huff             L 1-2           3.0  4  1  1  1  2  57  33  5.93
                                12.0 12  5  5  3 12 200 127
 
Atl: Schafer,J batted for Teheran in the 7th
     Pena,R batted for Pastornicky in the 8th
     Pena,R moved to 2b in the 8th
     Heyward batted for Hale in the 9th
     Heyward moved to rf in the 9th
     Uggla batted for Wood,A in the 11th
     Laird inserted at c in the 12th
SF : Adrianza batted for Machi in the 7th
     Arias inserted at 3b in the 10th
 
E-Romo. 2B-Posey(4). 3B-Morse(2). HR-Gattis(5), Doumit 2(3), Sandoval(5).
RBI-Gattis(16), Johnson,C(17), Doumit 3(8), Posey(14), Sandoval 2(15),
Colvin(1). CS-Blanco,G. K-Pastornicky, Upton,J 2, Freeman,F 2, Gattis,
Johnson,C, Upton,B 3, Doumit, Pena,R, Blanco,G, Pence 2, Posey, Sandoval,
Morse, Colvin 2, Crawford,B 2, Hicks,B 3, Bumgarner. BB-Upton,J 2, Heyward,
Colvin 2. SH-Upton,B, Crawford,B. SF-Colvin. HBP-Doumit. HB-Romo.
GWRBI: Johnson,C
Temperature: 62, Sky: clear, Wind: out to center at 14 MPH.
Attendance: 41,409