Inland Waterways » Freemans hard-hit grounder went through

PHILADELPHIA - A pair of victories made a long day for the Braves pretty enjoyable. Ryan Doumit homered and Tommy La Stella had two doubles and drove in two runs to lead the Atlanta Braves to a doubleheader sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies with a 5-1 victory in the nightcap Saturday. La Stella hit a three-run triple in Atlantas 10-3 win in the opener. Chris Johnson had three hits with an RBI and Justin Upton had two hits and drove in a run for the Braves, who have won five of six. Atlanta finished with 13 hits in the nightcap and had a combined 15 runs and 20 hits on the day. "Its a long day, definitely a long day and its not something you look forward to, playing two in one day," Johnson said. "But to come out with two wins, you cant complain at all." Cameron Rupp had two hits with a double for the slumping Phillies, who have lost seven of nine. Philadelphia totalled four runs in the two games and now have scored three runs or less 41 times, dropping to 7-34 in those contests. The Phillies also fell to 18-26 at hitter-friendly Citizens Bank Park, where they entered Saturday batting .229 as a team. "We had tough going on the offensive side and couldnt get anything going," Philadelphia manager Ryne Sandberg said. "Its disappointing. We came in with some momentum, but the last three games it was lack of offence and not many good plays on defence. We have to do things differently, we have to score more runs and put the pitching and defence together." Atlanta right-hander David Hale (3-2) made his first start since being moved to the bullpen on April 30 and allowed one run on four hits with three strikeouts and a walk in five innings. Anthony Varvaro, Jordan Walden and Gus Schlosser combined to pitch four scoreless innings of relief. The four pitchers limited Philadelphia to six hits. "David Hale gave us everything he had," Atlanta manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "He gave us what we wanted and gave us an opportunity." The Phillies called up Sean OSullivan (0-1) from Triple-A Lehigh Valley for a spot start and the right-hander lasted 5 2-3 innings, giving up four runs on eight hits with three strikeouts. OSullivan, who has had stints with the Angels, Royals and Padres, made his 38th big league career start. "I wouldve liked to have gone deeper in the game, but I thought I came right after them," OSullivan said. "I tried to eat as many innings as I could." Uptons RBI single in the first staked Atlanta to a 1-0 lead. The Phillies tied it in the third on Jimmy Rollins sacrifice fly before the Braves used a three-run sixth to take the lead for good. OSullivan retired the first two batters before three straight singles, the last, a run-scoring base hit to right field by Johnson, ended his night. Left-hander Mario Hollands relieved OSullivan and surrendered a two-run double to La Stella that gave the Braves a three-run lead. The Phillies got a chance in the sixth when a leadoff single by Marlon Byrd and an error by second baseman La Stella on Ryan Howards grounder put runners on first and second with no outs against Varvaro. However, unlike in the opener when two straight Howard errors in the fourth inning led to a pair of pivotal, game-tying runs, Philadelphia couldnt take advantage of Atlantas miscue. John Mayberry Jr. popped out and Cody Asche and Cesar Hernandez flew out to left. In the opener, Ervin Santana (6-5) snapped a four-game winless streak, allowing two runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and one walk in 6 2-3 innings. Santana had lost his last three starts with a 5.89 ERA in those outings. But he was strong after the first two innings, retiring nine straight during one stretch and surrendering just three hits after the second inning. "It was a great effort," Gonzalez said. "We were looking for that kind of outing to be able to save the bullpen." Said Santana, "In the first inning, a couple pitches were up. After that, I just made a good adjustment and kept the ball down for the most part." Howard made two costly errors in the fourth inning, resulting in two unearned runs that allowed the Braves to tie the game at 2. Freddie Freemans hard-hit grounder went through Howards legs and the error put runners on second and third. "It was a possible double-play ball and we wouldve been out of the inning," Sandberg said. "It changed the whole game." The next batter, Upton, hit a medium grounder to first but reached safely when Howard bobbled and then lost control of the ball. Andrelton Simmons scored on that error and Freeman, who went to third on the play, then scored on Jason Heywards groundout to first. Fans gave a sarcastic cheer when Howard made the putout. "You make an error and give teams extra opportunities, and sometimes theyll make you pay for it," Gonzalez said. "We only got two runs out of those errors, but it got us back in the game. You have to take advantage of those. If you give opportunities to good baseball teams, theyre going to get you." Atlanta then went ahead in the sixth on Uptons two-run double off the wall in left. Roberto Hernandez (3-7) didnt allow a hit through 3 1-3 innings and ended up giving up just three hits in seven innings with two strikeouts and three walks. Two of the four runs he allowed were unearned. NOTES: Evan Gattis was out of the lineup for both games on Saturday. The Braves catcher left due to back spasms after striking out swing in the first inning of Fridays game. Christian Bethancourt was called up from Triple-A Gwinnett before the game. Bethancourt, who arrived at the ballpark an hour and 15 minutes before the game, hit an infield single in the sixth for his first major-league hit. To make room for Bethancourt, the Braves sent right-hander Juan Jaime to Triple-A. ... Philadelphia Flyers goalie Steve Mason, in town for the NHL draft at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday and Saturday, was in attendance for the opener on Saturday. ... The teams will conclude their four-game series at 1:35 Sunday afternoon with Atlanta RHP Aaron Harang (6-6, 3.78) facing Philadelphia RHP David Buchanan (4-3, 4.79). Cheap Jerseys USA . Detroits powerful offence made that unnecessary. Scherzer allowed two hits and struck out seven, and the Tigers backed their star right-hander with three early homers in an 8-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday night. Cheap Soccer Jerseys . Braves reliever David Carpenter was also fined for throwing at Rockies outfielder Corey Dickerson in the same game, which featured several ejections, including Colorado manager Walt Weiss. http://www.chinaauthenticjerseyswholesale.com/. Lisicki beat South African Chanelle Scheepers by a 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) margin. Next up for the Wimbledon runner-up will be Slovenian Polona Hercog, who outlasted Czech Petra Cetkovska 6-4, 5-7, 6-1. Wholesale Jerseys From China .ca/CurlingSkins - with the Top 16 curlers earning a ticket to Banff, Alta. to compete in the TRAVELERS ALL-STAR CURLING SKINS GAME Presented by Pintys, running Jan. Wholesale China Jerseys . The 24-year-old Raley was 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA for Chicago in his first two career starts after being called up from Iowa on Aug. 7. He was optioned to Iowa on Monday after losing 3-0 to Cincinnati in Chicago on Sunday.SEATTLE - Before Cesar Ramos took the mound, Joe Maddon raved about how the left-hander had made the transition from reliever to starter and pitched well with Tampa Bays pitching staff thinned by injuries. Then Ramos got battered for three innings by Seattles bats and got no help from a shaky defensive night by the Rays. Ramos was knocked around early by the Mariners in their 12-5 win over the Rays that included video reviews on consecutive batters in the first inning and Seattle ace Felix Hernandez getting ejected in the seventh inning. "We got ambushed. We just sashayed into the canyon and they were firing from both sides," Maddon said. Ramos had allowed only nine total runs and 18 hits all season. By the end of the third inning, hed given up 11 hits and nine runs — although only five of those were earned because of four errors in the first two innings by Tampa Bays defence. The Rays committed three errors in the second inning, tying a franchise record. It was a difficult opening to a West Coast road trip for Maddons crew. "They came out aggressive and I took too long to adjust," Ramos said. "I started pitching backward later and started having more success." Even though Ramos got battered, he settled down and helped save Tampa Bays bullpen by getting through 6 2-3 innings. He didnt allow a hit after the third, retiring the final 12 batters he faced. He set career bests for innings pitched and pitches (114) although few will look beyond the rough beginning. "I appreciate him even more for what he did after the bad start," Maddon said. "A lot of guys would not do what he did, the way he saved the rest of the staff. A lot of guys would have caved right there and he did not cave." Hernandez (4-1) won for the first time in more than a month. He took a shutout bid into the sevennth inning, then gave up a three-run double to Ryan Hanigan with two outs and was pulled.dddddddddddd At that point, Hernandez was fuming about the strike zone of plate umpire Mark Ripperger. On his way off the mound, Hernandez had a few words for Ripperger. Hernandez said he couldnt repeat anything he uttered. "Im sure he got his moneys worth. I didnt understand everything he said," Seattle manager Lloyd McClendon said. "I kind of knew it was going to happen because he was not happy." Hernandez rebounded from a rough last four starts. It was his first start for the Rays since Aug. 15, 2012, when he tossed a perfect game at Safeco Field. Asked his thoughts on giving Hernandez a big early lead, Maddon said, "Thats called being sub-optimal." James Jones doubled, singled and scored in each of the first three innings as the Mariners took a 9-0 lead. Robinson Cano drove in Jones twice. They werent alone at providing production at the top of Seattles order. Stefan Romero homered, doubled and singled and Corey Hart had two hits and two RBIs. Justin Smoak hit a two-run homer and Mike Zunino added a solo shot for Seattle. The rare back-to-back replays came in the first inning as Cano and then Hart both barely missed home runs on fly balls that hit the yellow line atop the fence and bounced back. Umpires ruled both balls in play, and their calls were confirmed. Cano wound up with a double on his drive to left field, Hart was thrown out trying for a double on his shot to right. "That was pretty weird. You had nothing to lose by asking them to review them," McClendon said. NOTES: Rays LHP David Price will make his first career start at Safeco Field on Tuesday. Its just his second start against Seattle in his career. ... Cano has reached safely in 21 straight games. ' ' '