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Jurrjens Impresses, Braves Win 10-2
April 2, 2008 – 10:48 pmIt’s not often you hear Bobby Cox call someone “sensational” - especially a young pitcher after their first start. But Bobby didn’t hesitate to pull it out when talking about the 22 year old starter Jair Jurrjens, who made his first big league start for the Braves tonight. Jurrjens went 5.1 innings, struck out five, and gave up two earned runs on seven scattered hits and one walk. He notched not only his, but the Braves’ first win this season.
I was really impressed by Jurrjens. In the post-game interview, he kept beating himself up for the one walk. He didn’t seem happy or self-absorbed with the win or the five strikeouts. He didn’t mention the nasty changeup he throws without hesitation. He was upset with himself for the one walk and kept saying how he needs to limit the walks this season. Jurrjens didn’t even get in trouble until the sixth inning. And his fastball was around 93-94 all night long.
The bats weren’t silent either. Martin Prado started the evening at second in place of the injured Kelly Johnson (knee, day-to-day), and kicked the game off with a triple. Chipper knocked him in. Prado would go on to reach base 3 out of 5 times to the plate, scoring each of those times. Matt Diaz added a homer in the fourth.
Going into the 8th, the Braves led 3-2, before the floodgates opened. Both Yunel Escobar and Mark Teixeira broke out the long ball - Tex launching a two-run homer and Yunel going yard to put a three spot on the board. Add a few singles here and there, and the Braves ended up putting seven runs on the board in the eighth. Will Ohman came in and closed out the game in the ninth.
Great to see the Braves get their first win on the board - especially with the offense really clicking in the eighth. Jurrjens is going to be something special. He’s soft-spoken and modest, and has nasty stuff to back it up. He is willing to learn from the older guys and will really benefit from that throughout the season. Hopefully we’ll continue to have Teixeira break out the bat, as he had a slow spring. Also good to see our bullpen pitch 3.2 innings of scoreless relief. We’ll take that.
Braves are 1-2 and showing signs of life. Hampton on the mound tomorrow for Atlanta. Here’s praying he can stay alive through it.
Tags: Jair Jurrjens, Mark Teixeira, Martin Prado, Matt Diaz, Pittsburgh Pirates, Will Ohman, Yunel Escobar
Posted in Game Analysis |
By Rue Grant on Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
“He’s soft-spoken and modest, and has nasty stuff to back it up.”
yes, and jordan schafer is confident, not cocky.
By Colin on Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
Calm down. Schafer is a different story than Jurrjens. You can tell just by watching them do a TV interview.
By Andrew V. on Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
Yay for names I can’t spell.
Almost as bad as Ambiroix (sp?) Burgos.
By JBinATL on Apr 2, 2008 | Reply
Yay for the Braves!
Yay for Tex hitting a homer finally!
Yay for Esco he’s on fire and I hate to say…I don’t miss Edgar especially since…
Yay for Jurrjens!
Great game. Let’s win the series tomorrow and beat the Mets!
JB
By Colin on Apr 3, 2008 | Reply
I just re-looked at the stats. Jurrjens struck out five, but he got 7 ground-outs and 4 fly-outs. Good to see a young groundball pitcher in a Braves uniform again.
By Smitty on Apr 3, 2008 | Reply
Interesting that JJ has an approach that he doesn’t want to necessarily be a strike-out pitcher.
He is more of the “conservationist,” wanting to ground-out and fly-out batters and eat up more innings. Whatever works, baby.
It was a treat seeing him. Hopefully he will be here for years to come.
Oh, and Escobar. Yeah. Nice night. That’s two in a row that you have been a super-star-stud in. So far.
Smitty