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The Tomahawk Times - James solid as Braves beat Dodgers 4-1
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ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Braves turned the corner on a forgettable roadtrip and have started a three-game winning streak, thanks to a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday.
Chuck James (1-1) did not stay in Richmond long enough to venture to the mound following his disastrous start against Colorado on April 9. This time around, James was in command of the Dodgers for five innings and limited them to a run on four hits.
Starting for the Dodgers, Chad Billingsley was enjoying one of the best starts of his career through the first four innings. Billinglsey had recorded five consecutive outs via the strikeout when he fanned Brayan Pena to open the fifth inning, but things would deteriorate quickly.
A walk to Kelly Johnson was followed by a Yunel Escobar single. Billinglsey then issued a free pass to Chipper Jones to load the bases and set the stage for Mark Teixeira. The Braves first baseman delivered a 2-run single that put Atlanta on top 2-1.
Jeff Francoeur 's RBI ground-out was followed by a run-scoring single off the bat of Mark Kotsay that would make it 4-1 Braves. Matt Kemp threw a strike to home plate that was awaiting Brian McCann, who was attempting to score from second, and put an end to the inning.
Perhaps the only mistake James made on the afternoon was leaving a fastball up in the zone to former teammate Andruw Jones. His second inning homer to left gave the Dodgers their only run of the afternoon and ended a 90 at-bat homerless drought.
Chipper Jones went 1-for-3 on the afternoon to drop his average down to .449 on the year, still tops in the Major Leagues.
Atlanta's pitching has been extremely strong during the current three game win streak, allowing just two runs in the past 27 innings. The scoreless ninth inning by Manny Acosta preserved the Braves win and notched the first save of his Major League career.
On Deck: Atlanta is seeking a sweep on Sunday as they send Jair Jurrjens to the hill to face Japanese import Hiroki Kuroda. Game time is set for 1:35 PM EST.
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