Braves End 8-2 Road Trip with Win: W, 5-1

Onil Joseph led off the game with his first homerun of the season as the Braves scored two in the first and never looked back defeating the Mudcats in the series finale 5-1 in front of 3,069 at Five County Stadium. Matt Wright (5-2, 2.20 ERA) had his string of scoreless innings end at 19 and 2/3 as he became the first Brave pitcher to 5 wins. Wright allowed just an RBI single to Patrick Arlis in the sixth. The Mudcats left the bases loaded in the fifth and sixth innings as they stranded 12 men in the game.

The Braves added a sacrifice fly in the first by Michael Rosamond to end the first. The Braves scored again in the seventh on an RBI double by Jarrod Saltalamacchia and in the ninth on a pinch-hit 2-run double by Ray Serrano.

Only two position players failed to record hits in Luis Hernandez and Yunel Escobar. Saltalamacchia was the only Brave to pick up two hits as he singled in the second and doubled in the seventh. Mudcats starter Adam Bostick (4-4, 4.22 ERA) limited the Braves to one hit and one walk after the first inning retiring 14 of the final 16 he faced.

The Braves will enjoy a day off on Wednesday before starting their final 10-game homestand of the season which will close out the first half. The Braves will host the Lookouts in game one of the five-game set Thursday night at 7:05 CT. The Braves will send RHP Daniel Curtis (2-5, 4.75 ERA) to the hill, while Chattanoog counters with RHP Josh Hall (2-0, 3.57 ERA). The Braves On Deck Circle powered by Nextel starts off the broadcast at 6:05pm (CT) on SuperSport 930. Don't forget to bring your radios Thursday and tune into AM-930 or 104.3 FM exclusively at Trustmark 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 To catch an archived version of tonight's game or any previous MS Braves game head to Minor League Baseball.com and select the day you want to hear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:

* Braves have won ten of their last twelve games.
* The Braves finished the road trip at 8-2.
* The Braves improve to 17-9 when scoring first.
* Yunel Escobar is now mired in an 0-7 slump.
* The Braves are 14-9 when hitting a homerun.
* The Braves improve to 21-11 when scoring 4 or more runs.
* The Braves improve to 2-2 on the final game of a road trip.
* The Braves are now 4 games out of 2nd Place.
* Matt Esquivel extended his hit streak to 4 games… (7-16, .438)
* Michael Rosamond extended his hit streak to 3 games… (5-9, .556)
* Jarrod Saltalamacchia extended his hit streak to 6 games… (10-24, .417)

by
Bryan Eubank