ESPN.com – MLB – Recap

Another day, another win, another quality start from Jaret Wright. (I feel foolish for doubting Leo about him. I will never doubt you again, Leo!) Wright started off kind of shaky, getting into two-baserunner jams in the first two innings, then loading the bases and allowing two runs in the third. He settled down after that and wound up with 6 1/3, 7 H, 4 BB, 4 K. Gryboski relieved him with two on in the seventh and actually got the mythical double play, which probably means at least six more weeks of Gryboski in key situations. Alfonseca pitched the eighth and Reitsma the ninth, either because Smoltz had pitched the last two nights or because he’s still sick.

Wright also hit a homer, the first of his career, in the third. Unlike most of the Braves’ victories in the recent hot streak, all their runs came via homers. Furcal hit one to tie the game in the fifth, and LaRoche hit a two-run homer with Andruw on in sixth. With a little more luck, the Braves might have scored a lot more than four runs; eight men were left on base and Estrada hit into a double play before LaRoche’s homer. Anyway, the one thing that the Braves haven’t been doing offensively is hitting home runs. If they can do that and keep up the other elements of the offense, they’ll be in good shape.

Marcus Giles was back in the lineup, going 1-4 with a walk. Drew, who’d seemed during the Astros series, had three hits… Tomorrow is a Fox game, which I assume will be shown in the southeast and in the west. Byrd will take on Edgar Gonzalez, who is 0-4 with a 13.50 ERA in four starts. I mean, you have to hit this guy, right?

The Phillies just gave up a tying homer in the ninth to the Dodgers; the teams are going to extra innings. The Marlins rallied to win their game, and the Mets lost.