Braves Homer Their Way to Victory, 4-3

Yunel Escobar waited until his final at-bat of the night to pick up his first hit of the game, a solo homerun to lead off the 11th as the Braves rallied to defeat the Suns 4-3 in 11 Innings in front of a season-high crowd of 10,640 at The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The Braves used the long ball to drive in all 4 of their runs. Barbaro Canizares hit a two-run shot in the fourth to give the Braves an early 2-0 lead. Then in the ninth with two outs, Canizares delivered another monster drive to left on a 3-0 pitch to tie the game at 3 and force extra innings. It was the first blown save of the year for Mark Alexander.

Chris Waters (2-3, 3.60 ERA) did not factor in the decision as he left trailing 3-2 after the seventh. He retired the first seven he faced and eleven of the first twelve the Suns sent to the plate. Glenn Tucker pitched a perfect eighth and Zach Schreiber (1-0, 2.16 ERA) tossed three scoreless innings of relief to secure his first win of the season.

Suns starter Heath Totten (3-2, 3.25 ERA) left with the lead, allowing just the two-run homer to Canizares while striking out three and walking three. The Braves survived hitting into four double plays on the night, by launching three homeruns. They also picked up just their second win when trailing after 8 innings (2-25).

The Braves continue their ten game road trip Saturday night against the Jacksonville Suns in game four of the series. The Braves send RHP Ryan Basner (0-3, 6.83 ERA) to the hill, while Jacksonville counters with RHP Joel Hanrahan (3-2, 3.22 ERA) at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville at 6:05. The Braves On Deck Circle powered by Nextel starts off the broadcast at 5:05pm on SuperSport 930.

Check out the Braves Minute here. To catch an archived version of tonight's game or any previous MS Braves game head to Minor League Baseball.com and select the day you want to hear.

BRAVES BITES:
* Barbaro Canizares extended his hitting streak to 5 games…(7-22, .318)
* Yunel Escobar extended his hitting streak to 3 games…(4-12, .333)
* Saltalamacchia ended an 0-12 skid with a single in the 11th.
* Michael Rosamond broke out of a 0-7 slump with a 2 for 5 night.
* The Braves improve to 8-7 when scoring first and when hitting a homerun.
* The Braves improve to 12-6 when not allowing a homerun.
* The Braves improve to 6-3 in one-run games, and 4-1 in extra inning games.
* The Braves are now 3-1 on Friday nights away from Trustmark Park
* The Braves lead the all-time series at The Baseball Grounds, 7-5.
* The crowd of 10,640 was the 5th largest crowd in The Baseball Grounds history.

by
Bryan Eubank