Rookie sensation Jason Heyward singled in two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Atlanta Braves to a 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.
Martin Prado led off the ninth with a single and Brian McCann and Yunel Escobar drew walks from Rockies closer Franklin Morales (0-1), who served up a 2-2 pitch to Heyward that dropped in shallow left field to score a pair.
Heyward finished with three RBIs on the day and Eric O’Flaherty (1-0) earned the win with an inning of relief.
Braves starter Jair Jurrjens held the Rockies in check for most of the contest but gave up a solo blast to Ian Stewart in the seventh and another to Carlos Gonzalez in the eighth to put Colorado on top at 3-2
A night after Ubaldo Jimenez stymied the Braves with the first no-hitter in Colorado history, left-hander Greg Smith took the mound for the Rockies and could not quite match his teammates heroics, issuing seven walks and five hits to go along with two runs in 5 1/3 innings before exiting trailing, 2-1.
Colorado | Atlanta | |
Greg Smith | Player | Jair Jurrjens |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
5.1 | IP | 8.0 |
5 | Strikeouts | 9 |
5 | Hits | 5 |
3.38 | ERA | 3.38 |
Colorado | Atlanta | |
Ian Stewart | Player | Matt Diaz |
3 | Hits | 3 |
2 | RBI | 0 |
1 | HR | 0 |
6 | TB | 6 |
.750 | Avg | .600 |