All due respect from Braves blog Talking Chop, but if you came here looking for news about a certain pitching phenom, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a couple paragraphs. There was another guy on the mound tonight in Atlanta’s 5-0 win over Washington and as far as they’re concerned he deserves first billing.
Talking Chop: Stras-who? Hudson Outduels The Phenom
Tim Hudson continued his incredible (and incredibly consistent) season tonight in the mugginess of Turner Field. Through seven gritty innings—all of them in a scoreless tie—Tim induced grounder after grounder, keeping the Nationals’ hitters completely off-balance. He wasn’t all finesse, though. He struck out 6 men, and when he needed a strikeout, he got it.
No strikeout was more important than the last one. In the 7th inning, with the score still tied 0-0, Huddy gave up a leadoff double to Roger Bernadina. After Ian Desmond bunted the runner to third, Hudson needed a strikeout to prevent the go-ahead run from scoring. And sure enough, he got it, striking out Alberto Gonzales on a nasty pitch about a foot outside the strike zone. He then retired the pitcher to escape the jam and complete his marvelous effort. Hudson’s final line was 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 6 K, 13/16 ground balls (81%!!!), and a whopping 0.420 WPA. Bravo.
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