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Losing to the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates is bad enough, but after dropping their fourth of five games the Atlanta Braves have bigger things to worry about.
Neil Walker hit a two-run homer, Brian Burres limited Atlanta to one run over six innings in his first start in more than three months and the Pirates beat the can't-get-hot Braves 3-1 on Monday.
Atlanta was assured of remaining in first place in the NL East for at least another day after Philadelphia split a day-night doubleheader against Florida. The Braves own a half-game lead over the Phillies.
The Braves have led the division every day since May 31, but have lost six games off that edge since July 22.
Lost their confidence, too? They say not so.
"I think a characteristic of our team is confidence," said Matt Diaz, who had two of Atlanta's eight hits.
"We don't really have a strut on the field and but we definitely have a swagger in the locker-room, and we're not losing confidence at all. We know we go in the division and control our fate. That's the beauty of being the team that the other team's chasing — whether it's one game or 10 games."
Atlanta had won five of its previous six against Pittsburgh and likely was looking to this three-game series as a way to get untracked. But the Braves did almost nothing against Burres (3-3), who limited them to David Ross' sacrifice fly in the second during his first start since losing to Atlanta 6-3 on May 29.
Elsewhere in the NL it was: Florida 7, Philadelphia 1 (1st game); Philadelphia 7, Florida 4 (2nd game); Washington 13, New York Mets 3; St. Louis 8, Milwaukee 6; Chicago Cubs 5, Houston 4; Colorado 10, Cincinnati 5; San Francisco 2, Arizona 0; and San Diego 4, Los Angeles Dodgers 2.
At Pittsburgh, keeping the Braves off balance with an assortment of offspeed pitches mixed in with a fastball that topped out at 90 m.p.h., Burres made his best start since shutting out the Cubs for seven innings on May 6. The left-hander spent much of the season with triple-A Indianapolis, and started Monday only because Jeff Karstens has arm and shoulder fatigue.
"I felt like when I needed to, I could make a good pitch," said Burres, who might remain in the rotation. "I didn't always get ahead of the hitters, but I'd get out of it with a good pitch."
Joel Hanrahan pitched the ninth inning for his fourth save in seven opportunities.
Tommy Hanson (9-11) held the Pirates to an unearned run over five innings before Jose Tabata singled to start the sixth, and Walker followed with a drive to straightaway centre that made it 3-1. Walker's 10th homer extended his hitting streak to 13 games (22 for 57, .386).
"I saw Jose was running on the pitch and I felt like it was one of the best pitches I'd seen all day," Walker said. "He was hitting his spots pretty good and left a pitch out over the plate, and I felt like I could do something with it."
Walker, a late May call-up, has been one the few pleasant surprises during a mostly miserable season in which the Pirates are on pace to lose 108 games — the most since they dropped 112 in 1952. Walker is hitting .313 as a rookie, shows good power and is an above-average fielder despite playing second base for only a handful of games in the minors.
Before giving up the homer, Hanson was convinced he was en route to making one of his best starts all season.
"It's probably the best I've felt warming up," said Hanson, who allowed four hits over six innings. "It was just that one inning. Other than the fastball (to Walker), I don't think it could have gotten much better. Just that one pitch, and it was definitely a big pitch."
After Burres left, the Braves had their chances against relievers Chris Resop and Evan Meek, but couldn't score while stranding 11 runners overall.
Resop, claimed on waivers from Atlanta on Aug. 5, walked two to load the bases following Nate McLouth's single, but got Martin Prado to ground out to end the threat. Prado, batting .313, was hitless in five at-bats and is 1 for 17 in PNC Park this season.
The Braves put two on with one out in the eighth. Meek, pitching for the first time since being bruised on the right hand by Ryan Braun's line drive Aug. 29 in Milwaukee, then retired pinch-hitter Brian McCann and McLouth on grounders.
"We had hits and we had runners, we just couldn't get the big hit to get back into the game," manager Bobby Cox said. "We thought we were going to get it just about every inning, but it never happened."
| Marlins 7, Phillies 1, 1st game |
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| Phillies 7, Marlins 4, 2nd game |
At Philadelphia, Roy Oswalt pitched seven effective innings, helping the Phillies beat Florida to split their day-night doubleheader.
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| Rockies 10, Reds 5 |
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At Denver, Ubaldo Jimenez won his club-record 18th game despite a wild performance and the surging Colorado Rockies rallied from a four-run deficit to beat Cincinnati.
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| Giants 2, Diamondbacks 0, 11 innings |
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At Phoenix, Nate Schierholtz hit a two-run triple in the 11th inning and San Francisco inched closer in the playoff race by beating Arizona.
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| Cardinals 8, Brewers 6 |
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At Milwaukee, Yadier Molina's grand slam capped a six-run eighth inning and St. Louis overcame Corey Hart's two homers to beat the Brewers.
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| Cubs 5, Astros 4 |
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At Chicago, Geovany Soto hit a tiebreaking homer in the eighth inning and the Cubs rallied from a four-run deficit to beat Houston.
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| Nationals 13, Mets 3 |
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At Washington, Nationals rookie Danny Espinosa drove in six runs, hitting a grand slam, a solo homer and getting two other hits to help Washington rout New York for its third straight victory.
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Padres 4, Dodgers 2
At San Diego, Nick Hundley homered and drove in two runs, and Tim Stauffer filled in for ailing ace Mat Latos as the NL West-leading Padres snapped their 10-game losing streak.
