Atlanta Braves 4 Los Angeles Dodgers 5 (April 4, 2006)
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0 commentsJohn Smoltz (0-0) and Brad Penny (0-0) started the second game of the season-opening series in Los Angeles.
Braves came in looking for their first 2-0 start since 1996.
The first half of the first inning was calm as Penny struck out the side with Chipper Jones and Edgar Renteria singling in between. However, the bottom half was the exact opposite as L.A. continued their hot-hitting from the night before. After Rafael Furcal grounded out to open the inning, Jose Cruz Jr. walked to setup a two-run homer into the right-center seats by J.D. Drew. Then Jeff Kent and James Loney, who had never played higher than AA ball, reached on a single and a walk, respectively. Bill Mueller, who rejected a better offer from Pittsburgh this offseason to go to the Dodgers, singled in a run and Jason Repko followed up with an RBI single of his own. The inning ended with the Dodgers off to an early 4-0 lead, which they never surrendered throughout the rest of the game.
Promising young Atlanta catcher Brian McCann tried his best to start a rally in the second inning with a homerun of his own but the rest of the team did not respond.
There was a 25 minute rain delay in the bottom of the second.
In the bottom of the third, Mueller scored Drew on a sac fly, which left the game at 5-1 until the eighth inning.
Drew started off last season hitless in his first 25 at-bats. Then, he broke his left wrist by getting hit by a pitch on July 3, ending his year.
After the second inning, Penny held the Braves hitless, retiring all but one of the last eleven batters he faced. Penny's effort led to Grady Little's first victory as the Dodgers' skipper.
The Braves attempted a comeback in the eighth off of reliever Jae Seo. Andruw Jones doubled in a run and Adam LaRoche followed him with a two-run homer, his second HR of the year. Brian Jordan struck out to squelch the rally.
Danys Baez came in for the "suspended" Eric Gagne to save the game. Gagne began to serve his two-game suspension from last year but was already unavailable with an ear infection.
After the game, Smoltz blamed the rainy weather on his first inning struggles.
"I rely on grip -- I just struggled today with that," he said. "I'm a real feel guy. If it doesn't feel good, I'm not going to go with a pitch very often." Talking about the weather he said, "It was brutal. I was tested to the max."
Smoltz reached 2,570 strikeouts for his career, 11 behind Hall of Famer Bob Feller for 23rd all-time.
Starting Lineups and Box Score
| Atlanta Braves | Los Angeles Dodgers |
|---|---|
| Marcus Giles (2B) | Rafael Furcal (SS) |
| Edgar Renteria (SS) | Jose Cruz Jr. (LF) |
| Chipper Jones (3B) | J.D. Drew (RF) |
| Andruw Jones (CF) | Jeff Kent (2B) |
| Adam LaRoche (1B) | James Loney (1B) |
| Jeff Francoeur (RF) | Bill Mueller (3B) |
| Brian McCann (C) | Jason Repko (CF) |
| Ryan Langerhans (LF) | Dioner Navarro (C) |
| John Smoltz (SP) | Brad Penny (SP) |
| Click here for the full boxscore | |
Date
April 4, 2006
