Braves Finally End Losing Skid: W, 7-5

The Braves finally had the ball bounce their way on Monday night as they halted a franchise-high eight game losing streak with a 7-5 win over the BayBears, in front of 2,253 fans at Hank Aaron Stadium. The win ended the Braves (12-25) eight game skid as they improved to 55-53 overall. The BayBears (18-20) had their four game win streak halted, while dropping to 54-54 overall on the season. The BayBears are still 9 games back of First Place Jacksonville in the South Division with 32 games remaining.

Rich Scalamandre (1-1, 3.38 ERA) danced around trouble in his two innings of work as he got out of a bases loaded jam in the 8th inning to give the Braves bats a chance. Wes Wilkerson tossed a perfect 9th to pick up his first save of the season. Braves starter, Ryan Baerlocher (0-0, 7.50 ERA) gave up 5 runs in his six innings of work including a solo homerun to Wilkin Castillo inthe 5th inning. With that homerun the Braves have now allowed a long ball in every game of the road trip.

The BayBears scored first for the third straight game as they manufactured a run in the 3rd inning with a suicide squeeze by Wilkin Castillo that allowed Rusty Ryal to score. The Braves responded in the 4th inning as Diory Hernandez led off the inning with a double and he was brought in by a Mark Jurich RBI single.

The BayBears came right back in the bottom of the 4th inning with three straight singles to load the bases by Brito, Gonzalez and Nicolas. Two batters later, Rusty Ryal cleared the bases with a double to left center field. The Braves got one run back in the top of the 5th inning with a sacrifice fly by J.C. Holt that scored Van Pope who led off the inning with a walk. Wilkin Castillo belted his 5th homerun of the season in the 5th inning to give the BayBears back their three-run lead.

The Braves resumed the come-back trail in the 8th inning as Clint Sammons laced a double downt he left field line and Mike Rozema followed with an infield single up the first base line to chase starter Esmerling Vasquez. The BayBears sent in A.J. Shappi and he gave up an RBI double to J.C. Holt and an RBI groundout to Diory Hernandez allowing the Braves to get back to within one run.

The Braves completed the rally in the 9th inning with three straight one-out walks to Sammons, Loadenthal and Holt to load up the bases. Diory Hernandez hit a ground ball to third base and Cesar Nicolas threw to the plate to force out Sammons but Wilkin Castillo couldn't hang on to the ball and the Braves tied up the game. That set the table for Matt Young's heroics as he hit a ball through the infield to score Loadenthal and Holt as the Braves took a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the 9th inning.

The Braves player of the game was J.C. Holt as he finished 1-for-3 at the plate with 2 RBIs and he also scored a run in the 3-run 9th inning. Holt is the #2 batter in the Southern League and is enjoying a 5-game hitting streak (7-21, .333 avg).

The Braves finished 4-for-13 with runners in scoring position in the game (8-for-30 in the series) while the BayBears finished 3-for-7 (7-for-22 in the series) in that same category. The Braves left 6 men on base (19 in the series). The BayBears left 6 stranded on base (16 in the series).

The Braves will continue a five game set in Mobile, Alabama at Hank Aaron Stadium as they take on the Mobile BayBears, the AA Affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, in the fourth game of their Southern League 5-Game Series. The Braves On Deck Circle presented by Wendy's will air starting at 6:05pm (CT). The First Pitch will follow at 7:05pm (CT). The Braves will send LHP Kelvin Villa (6-8, 5.37) to the hill in his first AA start this season. The BayBears will counter with RHP Max Scherzer (2-3, 4.95 ERA) who is looking for his eighth victory. Make sure you take your radio to the game and tune to the exclusive AT&T Field frequency - 96.7-FM.

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.

GAME TIME: 2:50

ATTENDANCE: 2,253

BRAVES BITES:
* The Braves improve to 26-32 on the road.
* The Braves improve to 9-8 in two-run games.
* The Braves imrpove to 41-23 when scoring 4 or more runs.
* The Braves imrpove to 4-49 when trailing after eight innings.
* The Braves improve to 14-34 when their opponent scores first.
* The Braves improve to 10-5 when scoring in four different innings.

ACTIVE HIT STREAKS (2 games or more):
* Matt Young - 2 games (3-9, .333)
* J.C. Holt - 5 games (7-21, .333)
* Clint Sammons - 8 games (11-28, .393)

HIT STREAKS ENDED:
* Josh Burrus - 3 games (5-13, .385)
* Van Pope - 5 games (6-10, .600)

HITLESS STREAKS ENDED:
* Diory Hernandez (0-9) - 4th inning double
* Mark Jurich (0-5) - 4th inning RBI single

ACTIVE HITLESS STREAKS:
* Van Pope (0-3)
* Carl Loadenthal (0-3)
* Josh Burrus (0-4)
* Ray Serrano (0-14)
* Isaiah Ka'aihue (0-17)

TRANSACTIONS:
* NONE

by
Bryan Eubank