The Braves fought back from a 5-2 deficit and J.D. Drew had the game winning hit in the top of the ninth as Atlanta forced a fifth game on Monday at Turner Field by beating the Stros 6-5 on Sunday afternoon in a heart-pounding thriller at the Juice Box. The Braves win broke the Stros’ 19 game winning streak at the Juice Box that had propelled the Stros into this National League Division series.
Craig Biggio’s three-run yak in the second and Roger Clemens gutty pitching performance on three days rest had given the Stros a 5-2 lead going into the sixth inning, but the Stros’ Chad Qualls gave up a massive 3 run tater to Adam Larouche in the sixth that tied the game. The clubs remained knotted through the next three excrutiating innings of wonderful playoff baseball until Drew knocked in the winning run in the ninth.
The Stros placed two men on in both the eighth and ninth innings only to have John Smoltz make two incredible plays to keep the Stros from scoring. In the eighth, with two outs and runners on first and third, Marcus Giles made a great play in the hole between first and second on Orlando Palmeiro‘s grounder and made a perfect off balance throw to Smoltz, who barely beat Palmeiro to first base for the third out. Then, in the ninth, after Berkman‘s clutch single put runners on first and third with one out, Smoltz induced JK to hit into a GIDP that sent the series back to Atlanta for Game 5.
Clemens was running on fumes today as he never could gain a rhythm, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks in his five innings. Still, the Rocket put the Stros in a position to win the game, and that’s all anyone could reasonably ask of a 42 year old man starting his second game in a week while recovering from a stomach virus. The key to this game turned out to be the Braves’ superior depth in the bullpen, as that group pitched six scoreless innings after the Stros’ five run second inning to give the Braves a chance to come back.
Despite the trauma of the loss to Stros’ fans, the Stros actually are in pretty good shape going into Game Five tomorrow in Atlanta. Roy O is ready to start and Lidge was limited to seven pitches in Sunday’s game, so he should be reasonably fresh, too. The Braves counter with Jaret Wright, who was no mystery for the Stros hitters in Game 1 of the series, and their bullpen has been stretched in both of the last two games. So, keep the faith, Stros fans, the Stros still have a good chance to pull this one out.