Tommy Hanson Leads Atlanta Braves Past San Francisco Giants

Published: 23^rd Apr 11 12:05 am

Danielle Parenteau
Danielle Parenteau

3 Rants

Brian McCann and Tommy Hanson (Credit: Keith Allison via Creative Commons License)

The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 4-1 tonight at AT&T Park.

Tonight would have been Barry Zito’s turn to pitch, had he not sprained his foot and gone on the disabled list.

Manager Bruce Bochy having decided to use a four-man rotation for now, Madison Bumgarner got the start.

Bumgarner would not make it out of a third inning that saw the Braves score all four of their runs, though it was not entirely is fault.

Home plate umpire Derryl Cousins showed he had a particularly tight strike zone — but only against the Giants and not the Braves as Atlanta’s Tommy Hanson could get something called a strike but if Bumgarner hit the same spot, it would be a ball.

“It’s right down the middle — and he called it a strike!” either Mike Krukow or Duane Kuiper would say in slightly sarcastic surprise about a pitch thrown by a Giant later in the game.

In the third, two of the first three batters walked, thanks in part to Cousins.

Jason Heyward hit a single to drive in Nate McLouth for the first run.

Chipper Jones followed with a double that narrowly eluded Cody Ross’s glove before hitting off the Willie Mays wall in right field; Martin Prado and Heyward scored.

After Bumgarner got Brian McCann to strike out on a foul tip for the second out, an error by Miguel Tejada would extend the inning.

And the Braves would capitalize as Freddie Freeman came up next with a base hit to bring in Jones.

That prompted Bochy to remove Bumgarner and replace him with Ryan Vogelsong, who got Alex Gonzalez to pop out.

The Giants’ bullpen, led by Vogelsong’s 3.1 innings but also featuring an inning apiece from Guillermo Mota, Dan Runzler and Sergio Romo, shut the Braves out the rest of the way.

But it did not matter as the Giants never could get anything going against a dominant Tommy Hanson.

Hanson was on his game right from the start, retiring the first seven batters faced.

San Francisco’s first base runner came on a Tejada single with one out in the bottom of the third.

The Giants finally put a chink in Hanson’s armor in the seventh inning.

Pablo Sandoval hit a line drive double to center, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a soft grounder by Pat Burrell.

However, that one run was all San Francisco would manage.

The series continues today at 1:10 p.m. PDT.

Probable Pitchers: Tim Lincecum (2-1, 1.67) vs. Tim Hudson (2-2-, 4.05)

Read about Lincecum’s last start: