The Braves snapped their nine-game losing streak behind a two-run homer from Jason Heyward in the third and eight strong innings from Tommy Hanson. But Heyward and Hanson are good and we knew that. The real relief is that Nate McLouth hit a homer, establishing that, contrary to all previous indications, he was not spending the year dead for tax purposes.
Hanson allowed two runs on four hits and struck out seven. He hasn’t allowed more than two runs in each of his first five starts and has a 2.17 ERA. This was his longest outing of the year, however, and it was nice to see him going after batters.
Heyward was robbed of another homer by Hunter Pence. Amazing play, the video of which you can see here. After the catch Heyward tipped his batting helmet to the Astros’ right fielder.