Braves 2, Pirates 1

The Braves avoided a 9th inning comeback from the Pirates, but lost Jay Powell.

Horacio Ramirez (9-6) pitched 8 great innings. He allowed just 1 run on 6 hits, a walk, and 3 strikeouts.

Attempting to give Chris Reitsma the night off, Jay Powell came in to try for the save. He hurt himself on the 2nd pitch. John Foster came in and walked the batter. Jim Brower came in and gave up a double, but then struck out the next batter, then intentionally walked a batter to load the bases. With 1 out, the obvious choice to pitch was Dan Kolb, hoping for a ground-ball double-play. However, Bobby made a brilliant move, and brought in left-hander Macay McBride. This kept left-handed hitting Daryle Ward on the bench. The Pirates' catcher, Humberto Cota, was due up but was pinch-hit for by Ryan Doumit. He struck out, and McBride got the next guy to ground out, to get the save.

For the first 5 innings, Ramirez and Dave Williams traded zeroes. The Pirates broke through with a run in the 6th.

But the Braves got 2 runs in the 7th, as Rafael Furcal led off with a single, Marcus Giles doubled, and Chipper singled them both in.

The Pirates didn't have a serious scoring chance again until the 9th.

Offensive contributors: Chipper Jones was 2-3 with 2 RBIs and a walk. Kelly Johnson was 2-3 with a walk. Andruw Jones walked twice.

Kyle Davies will get the start tomorrow against Mark Redman.