Braves Win Third Straight Over Lookouts

After failing in their first five chances to put together a three-game winning streak this season, the Braves decided to pull the feat off against the top team in the Southern League, the Chattanooga Lookouts in front of 2,281 at Bellsouth Park.. The Braves fell behind early in the first as the Lookouts jumped out to a 2-0 lead on three doubles in the first four batters. Then in the 2nd – 5th innings Paul Bush (4-3, 3.94 ERA) threw 4 shutout innings allowing just a walk to Noochie Varner while retiring the other twelve men he faced. Bush finally gave in to the Lookouts in the sixth as Asadoorian drove in Joey Votto to force Bush from the ballgame after the sixth. Glenn Tucker tossed two innings of relief allowing just an unearned run on a pair of infield singles, error and a sacrifice fly. Zach Schreiber pitched a perfect ninth for his third save of the season.

The Braves offensively got things going in the fourth as Madison native, Michael Rosamond led off the inning with a towering homerun to left that cleared the Bellsouth Park scoreboard and tied the game 2-2. The Braves then followed with four straight singles and a sacrifice fly to score two more and take a 4-2 lead they would not relinquish. Paul Bush added an RBI single in that frame to give the Braves a 3-2 lead his first RBI of the season. They padded their lead in the 6th inning as Yunel Escobar and Barbaro Canizares delivered RBI singles to push the lead to 6-2.

Lookouts starter Phil Dumatrait (3-4, 3.62 ERA) left the game after giving up all 6 runs on 8 hits, while walking 4 and striking out 4. The Braves finished the month f May at 12-17.

The Braves are in Chattanooga to play the series finale of the five-game set against the Lookouts Thursday night at 6:15 CT. The Braves will send RHP Matt Wright (3-2, 2.65 ERA) to the hill in search of his fourth win of '06 while Chattanooga counters with RHP Travis Chick (2-1, 4.85 ERA). The Braves On Deck Circle powered by Nextel starts off the broadcast at 5:15pm (CT) on SuperSport 930. If you're headed to Chattanooga don't forget to bring your radios and tune into 107.1 FM exclusively at Bellsouth Park.

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 To catch an archived version of tonight's game or any previous MS Braves game head to Minor League Baseball.com and select the day you want to hear.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 hit streak to 8 games…(12-33, .364)
* Matt Esquivel extended his hit streak to 3 games…(5-14, .357)
* Jarrod Saltalamacchia picked up first multi-hit game since May 24.
* The Braves improved to 11-9 when hitting a homerun.
* Three Braves finished with at least 2-hits.
* The Braves improved to 10-23 when their opponent scores first.
* The Braves improved to 18-11 when scoring 4 or more runs.
* Josh Burrus - to the DL, Onil Joseph - promoted from Myrtle Beach.
* This was the first win on a Wednesday this season. (1-7)
* Michael Rosamond also made a promise to have his head shaved after the first 3-game win streak...pictures to follow on Thursday.

by
Bryan Eubank