Braves Vs. Padres: Ludwick’s Second Homer Wins In 13th
Ryan Ludwick ended that 34-season streak Monday night, with a 13th-inning home run that propelled San Diego past Atlanta, 5-3.
The Braves took an early lead when Jason Heyward hit Dustin Moseley's fifth pitch of the game for an opposite-field solo home run. The Padres evened the score in the second on Will Venable's RBI groundout, and went ahead in the third on Ryan Ludwick's solo homer.
In the fifth, Atlanta got to Moseley for two runs. First Alex Gonzalez singled home Freddie Freeman, who had doubled with one out. And one out later, Derek Lowe drove in Gonzalez with a base hit.
Lowe, who started for Atlanta, exited after six innings. His successor, Eric O'Flaherty, opened the seventy by walking Cameron Maybin, who eventually scored the tying run on Nick Hundley's two-out double.
After which, the bullpens took over for quite some time, well into extra innings.
The Braves did mount a serious threat in the 12th inning. With Cory Luebke on the mound, Chipper Jones led off with a double into the left-field corner. Brandon Hicks pinch-ran for Jones, but was thrown out at third base by Luebke on Brian McCann's come-backer. Dan Uggla followed with a single, McCann stopping at second base. But Luebke escaped by striking out both Freddie Freeman and Alex Gonzalez.
In the 13th, it was right fielder Chris Denorfia's turn to play the hero. After Nate McLouth led off with a single, Braves relief pitcher Cristhian Martinez bunted into a fielder's choice, Uggla out at second base. Next up, Martin Prado lifted a pop fly down the right-field line, which looked like a sure hit or a foul ball. Enter Denorfia, who went into a full dive, caught the ball in the palm of his glove, slid on the ground about 10 feet, then popped up and threw to first base just in time to nip Martinez for a double play.
Which set up the bottom of the 13th. With one out, Nick Hundley drew a walk against Martinez. And moments later, Martinez hung a slider to Ludwick, whose long fly to left field sailed a foot or so over a leaping Prado’s glove, won the game, and made just a little bit of franchise history.
As usual, San Diego’s bullpen performed brilliantly: seven shutout innings, four hits, zero walks, and eight strikeouts.
