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| Teixeira, Jurrjens lead Braves to sweep of Dodgers ATLANTA 6, LA DODGERS 1 |
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By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Another solid pitching performance, another win for the Atlanta Braves. Rookie Jair Jurrjens struck out a career-best eight in seven solid innings and Kelly Johnson homered and scored three times to lead the Braves to a 6-1 win and sweep the three-game set over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday. Mark Teixeira went 3-for-4 and had a two-run homer in a four-run eighth to break the game open for Atlanta. "It was pretty much the best series we've played in about three years," Chipper Jones said. "We played pretty much a perfect series, from the starting pitching to the swinging of the bats. "The pitching especially, our starters have been outstanding, our bullpen has been outstanding. We played pretty good defense for the most part and our hitters are starting to heat it up a little bit." The 22-year-old Jurrjens (2-2), who grew up a Braves fan in the tiny island nation of Curacao, posted the best start of his brief major league career, scattering one run and three hits while walking three to defeat the listless Dodgers. "The kid's got an idea about pitching," said Jones, who extended his hitting streak to 12 games before leaving the game in the sixth after tweaking his right quadriceps. "When (he) locates, he's dominant. I haven't seen him have a bad outing since he put the uniform on." Jurrjens' only mistake on a picture-perfect day for baseball at Turner Field came with two outs in fourth. The rookie left a 1-2 pitch up in the zone to Dodgers catcher Russell Martin, who deposited the ball over the left field fence for his second homer of the season. Otherwise, the rookie was dominant, throwing 73 of 114 pitches for strikes en route to notching his second win at Turner Field. "It was another great outing by J.J.," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "I can't say enough about him. Every outing is good and he's only 22 years old." Jurrjens, who was a bat boy in Curacao when Andruw Jones was playing Little League ball there, dominated his fellow countryman. With many eyes in the baseball-crazy island of 134,000 tuned into the matchup, he struck out Andruw Jones each of the three times that he faced him. "Maybe the whole island (was watching)," Jurrjens said. "My brother and him used to play on the same team. I was a bat boy. I used to watch him pretty good. I tried not to look at him (before his first at-bat)." Despite his success, Jurrjens knows he has a long way to go before reaching the stature of his 10-time Gold Glove-winning counterpart. "I don't think so," Jurrjens said when asked whether his performance would catapult his stature past that of his fellow countryman. "I think he's still the biggest (player) back home." Johnson broke a 1-1 tie by smashing the 1-0 offering from Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda (1-2) into the right-center field bleachers for his third homer of the season. The 26-year-old Johnson, who was mired in an 0-for-8 slump prior to the homer, opened the scoring for Atlanta, crossing home on Teixeira's RBI single and plating the club's third run on Martin Prado's triple in the eighth. Teixeira, who entered this one batting just .221, capped the scoring by blasting a two-run shot into the right-center field bleachers for his fourth homer of the season. He drove in three of Atlanta's six runs. "I feel good and our whole offense is doing a little bit better," Teixeira said of Atlanta's 14-hit attack. "If we can get everyone rolling, we're going to score a lot of runs." Kuroda pitched well, allowing two runs and seven hits, walking four and striking out four in a 118-pitch, six-inning effort, but was victimized by poor run support. "Kuroda pitched well enough to win," Los Angeles manager Joe Torre said. "He gave us a chance to win. He kept us in the game." The Dodgers, who were swept by the Braves for the first time since the 2000 campaign, managed just three runs in the series and finished 1-for-23 with runners in scoring position. "It's frustrating," Torre said of the Dodgers' lack of offensive production. "Everybody feels the heat from it. We feel a lot of tenseness. We have to start swinging the bats." |
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