About the Author
Grant McAuley covers baseball for the Braves Radio Network. Over the past four seasons, McAuley has made daily contributions on his "Braves Insider" page for network flagship websites, 640 WGST and 94.9 The Bull as well as MLB.com's MLBlog site.
In 2006, McAuley penned a look back on the 14-consecutive Divisional Titles won by the Atlanta Braves, as part of a 1-hour show, voiced by long-time Braves broadcaster Skip Caray. The show highlights and honors the accomplishments of the team from 1991-2005. McAuley was also featured in ESPN Classic's "Top 5 Reason You Can't Blame," as they focused on Braves manager Bobby Cox in a show first airing in September of that year.
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The Tomahawk Times - Jurrjens impressive in 5-3 Braves win over Padres
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ATLANTA -- It has been home sweet home for the Atlanta Braves through the first four games of the current homestand. Jair Jurrjens tied a career-high with eight strikeouts and Chipper Jones belted his 10th homer of the season as the Braves hung on for a 5-3 win on Tuesday.
Jurrjens (4-2) gave the Braves six strong innings and limited the San Diego Padres to a lone first inning run on an Adrian Gonzalez run-scoring double. The young righty is unbeaten at Turner Field in three starts this season.
The Braves' offense once again gave their starter a sizeable early lead. Mark Kotsay collected two more hits in the victory and drove home Atlanta's first run with a single in the second inning. Gregor Blanco promptly chased home Kotsay with a double that gave Jurrjens and Atlanta a 2-1 lead.
Jones connected for a two-run blast off Padres starter Chris Young (2-3) that further extended the Atlanta advantage to 4-1. The scoring continued when Kotsay belted his second homer in as many games in the fourth.
San Diego did their best to creep back into things late in the game. Will Ohman came on in the seventh and gave up a pair of runs. Tadihito Iguchi tripled home a run and scored on a Gonzalez groundout to bring the Padres within two, at 5-3.
Blaine Boyer gave Atlanta a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts, before a trio of Braves relievers pitched in the ninth. Manny Acosta began the inning but struggled, giving up two hits in just a third of an inning.
Braves manager Bobby Cox decided to go with the match-ups to retire the final two San Diego hitters. After giving up a long drive that just went foul, Royce Ring struck out Gonzalez. Jeff Bennett came on to notch his first career Major League save.
On Deck: Tim Hudson will take the mound against Randy Wolf on Wednesday in the second game of this three-game set. Game time is set for 7:10 PM EST.
