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Friday, Jul. 28 7:40pm ET
Two rain delays make for long night | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ATLANTA (AP) -- Rafael Furcal walked to lead off the fifth -- and came around to score nearly two hours later. That summed up the night as the Atlanta Braves held on through two long rain delays to beat the Houston Astros 5-2 Friday, the final out coming shortly after 2 a.m. ET. "It was a long night, but if we had blown the game it would have been a really long night," said Kerry Ligtenberg, who pitched a scoreless inning in the wee hours of the evening. "We got to the point, and I think they did too, where you're just trying to throw strikes, get outs and get the hell out of here." Andy Ashby picked up his third straight win for Atlanta and fifth in a row overall, pitching five strong innings. He didn't return after the second delay and was long gone when the game finally ended. The Astros' season-high winning streak ended at five games in a matchup of the teams that played a memorable first-round playoff series last year. Originally scheduled for 7:40 p.m. EDT, the first pitch was delayed 1 hour, 46 minutes by the first storm that moved through Turner Field. In the bottom of the fifth, the showers became so heavy the tarp was brought out again, causing a stoppage of 1:39. Furcal, who had walked before the delay, returned to the field and promptly stole his second base of the night. From there, he scored on Wally Joyner's single to give the Braves a 4-1 lead. The game finally ended at 2:03 a.m. with just a few thousand fans left from the sellout crowd of 47,906. "The only thing I can laugh at is we've got to be here again in nine hours to play another one," said Chipper Jones, hardly looking forward to Saturday's 1:15 p.m. start. "Most of the guys are going to sleep here tonight. Hopefully, we won't be dragging too bad." Joyner, filling in again for the injured Andres Galarraga, and Jones both had two RBIs. Keith Lockhart drove in Atlanta's other run as the Braves maintained a five-game lead over the New York Mets in the NL East. Ashby (7-7), who joined Max Leon and Buzz Capra as the only Atlanta pitchers to go the distance in their first two starts with the Braves, didn't get a chance to become the first with three in a row. The right-hander, acquired from Philadelphia during the All-Star break, allowed four hits and struck out seven before the second delay. He didn't return to the mound when play resumed. "Ashby was throwing pretty good," Houston manager Larry Dierker said. "When we got him out, I thought we would come back and score a few runs, but we didn't." Four relievers finished up for the Braves. John Rocker struck out the side in the ninth for his 14th save. "He threw good," Dierker said. "He had pretty good control. The last time we saw him in Houston, he couldn't throw a strike." Ashby has won five in a row overall -- a streak that benefited from a rainout in Florida in which he allowed six runs in three innings. Those numbers were stricken from the record book when the game was called. Officially, he is 5-0 with a 1.18 ERA in his five starts. The Braves had a 3-0 lead before making an out against Wade Miller (1-3). Furcal led off the first with a walk, stole second and moved to third on Andruw Jones' infield hit. Chipper Jones followed with a double into the right-field corner, bringing home both runners. Joyner came through with another two-bagger to the left-field corner, scoring Jones. "That was a long time ago," Jones said. After the shaky first, Miller allowed only two hits and a walk before the second rain delay ended his night. Ashby escaped trouble in the second, striking out Julio Lugo with runners at first and third. The Astros finally broke through in the fourth. Lance Berkman led off with a double to center, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Moises Alou's sacrifice fly. Richard Hidalgo had an RBI single in the sixth against Scott Kamieniecki. Game notesThe sellout crowd pushed the Braves over 2 million in attendance for the 10th year in a row. ... The Astros have used 19 pitchers this year, four more than all of last season and just four short of the franchise record set in 1965. ... Braves OF George Lombard, called up from Triple-Richmond earlier in the day, went 0-for-3. He replaced Reggie Sanders, who went on the 15-day DL with a sore left hamstring. ... The Astros were coming off their first sweep of the year, at Cincinnati. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Houston Clubhouse Atlanta Clubhouse RECAPS Cleveland 0 Baltimore 0
Atlanta 5
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