Allgemein » homer of the season to put the Nationals up

ATLANTA - With a runner on second and first base open, the Cubs played it by the book and walked Justin Upton. Even before leaving the batters box, Upton flashed a grin to Freddie Freeman, who also grinned as he waited on-deck. They seemed to know what was coming. Freemans single up the middle drove in Jason Heyward from second base in the 10th inning and the Atlanta Braves recovered from Craig Kimbrels blown save to beat the Chicago Cubs 3-2 Friday night. Freeman said he savored the opportunity when the Cubs walked Upton. "It puts a smile on my face," Freeman said. "I dont know if you saw on TV, but after the second, third and fourth pitches Justin and I were kind of just laughing at each other. It kind of fires you up, if youre not fired up already. "When they walk someone intentionally to get to you, it definitely lights a fire under your butt." Chris Johnson, whose two-run single in the third inning gave Atlanta a 2-1 lead, said facing Freeman with the game on the line is a dangerous strategy. Freeman, who had three hits, is hitting .321. "I think Freddie is the best hitter in the National League," said Johnson, who had three hits. Kimbrel couldnt hold the 2-1 lead in the ninth after Julio Teheran allowed only one hit — Mike Olts homer — in eight innings. Wesley Wright (0-1) walked Heyward to lead off the 10th. Heyward stole second base, setting up Wrights intentional walk to Upton. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said he knows Cubs manager Rick Renteria faced a tough decision. "Youve got to pick your poison," Gonzalez said. Freeman ended the game with his single. Heyward slid home with the winning run as Ryan Kalishs throw from centre field was off target. Luis Valbuena led off the 10th with a single to right field off Alex Wood (3-5), who then recorded three straight outs in his first relief appearance of the season. The Braves announced before the game Wood was moving to the bullpen for one week. The Braves earned only their second win in their last 10 games. The Cubs, last in the NL Central, have lost five of six but took some solace in the ninth-inning comeback off Kimbrel. "All in all, I take away we fought a pretty good battle, but we just fell a little short," Renteria said. Olt led off the third inning with his seventh homer to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. Teheran retired 17 consecutive batters after the homer. Chris Coghlan led off the ninth with a single off Kimbrel. Coghlan moved to second on Emilio Bonifacios groundout and scored on a single to left by Kalish, who advanced to second on Justin Uptons fielding error. Kalish moved to third on Anthony Rizzos grounder to first. Kimbrel walked Starlin Castro before ending the inning on another grounder by Nate Schierholtz. "Theres definitely a lot of fight in this team," Olt said. "As long as we keep fighting were going to find a way to come up with some wins." Teheran began the night fifth in the majors with a 1.80 ERA and he lowered the mark to 1.71. He had a season-high nine strikeouts with two walks. Kimbrel suffered his second blown save in 11 chances. Chicagos Jason Hammel allowed two runs on seven hits and one walk in seven innings. The Braves only runs against Hammel came on a string of three straight two-out hits in the third. Freeman and Evan Gattis singled, Gattis moved to second on a wild pitch and Johnson drove both runners in with a single to left field. NOTES: The start of the game was delayed 18 minutes by rain. ... Johnson capped his big night with an eighth-inning single before stealing second — his first stolen base since 2012 and only the 11th of his career. ... Wood had been scheduled to start Sunday against the Cubs. Instead, RHP Aaron Harang will make Sundays start. Gonzalez said Wood will be back in the rotation on May 17 against St. Louis. ... The series continues on Saturday night when Braves RHP Ervin Santana faces Cubs RHP Jeff Samardzija. Nike Air Max 93 Canada . -- The Anaheim Ducks have signed left wing Dany Heatley to a one-year deal, returning the 33-year-old unrestricted free agent to the Pacific Division. Nike Air Max Flair Canada .500 ball against teams with winning records, so they needed a huge lift from somebody Tuesday night in a matchup of division leaders. http://www.clearanceairmaxcanada.com/air-max-200-canada-sale.html . Vonn punctuated her near-perfect season in perfect fashion Friday, earning her fourth overall World Cup title with a dominating giant slalom victory. Nike Air Max Canada Sale . Brad Malone had the other goal for the Monsters (1-1-0), while Elliott chipped in an assist for a three-point night and the games first star. Bryan Lerg also had two assists. Corban Knight and Max Reinhart scored for the Heat (1-1-0), who opened their season Friday with a 5-2 win over the Monsters in Cleveland. Air Max Deluxe Canada . -- Matt Rupert scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the London Knights extended their win streak to nine games by defeating the Owen Sound Attack 4-3 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. SAN FRANCISCO -- Even with standouts Bryce Harper and Gio Gonzalez on the disabled list, the Washington Nationals are shutting down the team with the best record in baseball and taking over the title as the leagues hottest club. Jayson Werth hit his first homer in almost a month and drove in three runs, and the Nationals capitalized on Matt Cains erratic start to beat the San Francisco Giants 6-2 Wednesday night for their fourth straight win. "We kind of got Cain on the ropes early, got his pitch count up, got some big hits early to kind of set the tone for the game," Werth said. "Its hard to recover from." Cain (1-4) walked the first three batters he faced before Adam LaRoches two-run single during a three-run first inning. Werths solo shot in the fifth and two-run single in the ninth provided the rest of the pop for the Nationals, who have won 10 of 12, including the last three at San Francisco. Former third baseman Ryan Zimmerman made a pair of diving catches in left field to highlight a stellar defensive effort, and Tanner Roark (5-4) allowed two runs and seven hits in six-plus innings to propel Washington to another win. "Were playing great as a team right row," said Roark, who struck out four and walked none. "Just keep it going. Its exciting." Brandon Crawford and Pablo Sandoval each drove in a run for the Giants, who have lost a season-high tying three straight after winning five in a row. Cains struggles might have been the most disappointing thing of all for the Giants. In his second start since a stint on the disabled list with a strained right hamstring, the former ace reverted back to his early season woes against Washington. Cain gave up four runs and three hits in five innings, walking five and striking out four. "It was too much of a deficit to come back from. We needed a better start than that. I wanted some clean innings. I made it too difficult," Cain said. The finale of the four-game series is Thursday, but the NL East-leading Nationals already have handed San Francisco its first series loss since losing two of three at Pittsburgh from May 5-7. Beforee the Nationals showed up in San Francisco this week, the Giants had not lost two in a row since May 16-17 to the Marlins.dddddddddddd The Nationals are doing it by getting contributions at the plate, on the mound and in the field. After Crawfords RBI triple in the fourth, second baseman Danny Espinosa made a diving stop on Gregor Blancos sharp grounder and threw out the speedy runner at first. Zimmerman, filling in for Harper in left, also swiped another run from San Francisco in the sixth when he made a diving catch of Crawfords slicing fly after Michael Morse doubled. "Im kind of learning on the fly," Zimmerman said. "Got a good break on it. It kept tailing away. I dove and caught it. The landing wasnt very smooth, but in the end, I caught the ball." Sandoval, scratched from the starting lineup because of an illness, singled home a run as a pinch-hitter in the seventh to whittle Washingtons lead to 4-2. Zimmerman slid in to snag Angel Pagans short fly for the third out. With his back right leg almost touching the dirt, Werth went low to launch his sixth homer of the season to put the Nationals up 4-1 in the fifth. Werth, who had not homered since May 14 at Arizona, singled with two outs in the ninth off Yusmeiro Petit to extend Washingtons lead to 6-2. Drew Storen, Tyler Clippard and Jerry Blevins each tossed a scoreless inning to help Washington finish off San Francisco again. Closer Rafael Soriano had been warming up in the bullpen before Werths single. "The best part about that is we could put the big scary guy back in his cage," Werth said, "and save him for (Thursday)." NOTES: The Nationals placed catcher Wilson Ramos on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right hamstring and called up catcher Sandy Leon from Triple-A Syracuse. ... The Giants traded left-hander David Huff back to the Yankees for cash. He was sent to San Francisco in January for cash after the Yankees signed Masahiro Tanaka. ... Tim Hudson (6-2, 1.97 ERA) takes the mound for the Giants opposite Washingtons Blake Treinen (0-2, 1.78 ERA) in Thursdays series finale. ' ' '