Miller gets first win at expense of Braves

May 7th, 2016

ATLANTA -- Brandon Drury was essentially a throw-in portion of the package that brought Justin Upton from Arizona to Atlanta before the 2013 season. But the D-backs have certainly come to realize the tremendous potential possessed by Drury, who delivered a decisive sixth-inning double in Saturday's 4-2 win over the Braves at Turner Field.
"Drury is just forcing our hand to put him in the lineup every night somewhere," D-backs manager Chip Hale said. "So we'll have to figure out tomorrow where that is."
Drury's RBI double off Bud Norris enabled Shelby Miller to notch his first win since the D-backs acquired him via the blockbuster trade completed with the Braves in December. Miller halted his ugly early-season woes while limiting his former team to two runs and four hits over six innings.

Freddie Freeman drilled a two-out, solo homer in the first inning and the Braves provided Julio Teheran another run of support in the second inning. But Erick Aybar's error helped the D-backs complete a game-tying two-run second inning against Teheran, who surrendered one earned run over five innings but was not nearly as sharp in this 101-pitch effort as he had been in his past two outings. The Braves are the first team since the 1913 Yankees to lose at least 14 of their first 15 home games.

"I didn't have my best stuff," Teheran said. "I did what I could to battle. It's a battle we're all going through. We'll just come back tomorrow and try to do better."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Miller's moment: Miller, who has battled mechanical and command issues for much of the season, walked just two and 54 of his 84 pitches went for strikes. The D-backs had hoped a return to a place he was familiar with would help the right-hander settle in, and it appeared to have done just that..
"I obviously had a good year here last year and I enjoyed pitching in this park," Miller said. "It was definitely nice to get here and get back on track. But even my last bullpen session I felt like I figured something out a little bit, just kind of slowing down through my mechanics and stopped rushing a little bit. I think that helped a ton." More >
Early-inning tease: Freeman homered for the third time in his past nine games and Miller seemed to be teetering when Miller surrendered a second-inning sacrifice fly to Mallex Smith, who was acquired in the trade that sent Upton to the Padres before the 2015 season. But Ender Inciarte's leadoff walk was negated by A.J. Pierzynski's double play to end the third inning and Miller allowed just two Braves to reach base in his final three innings.
"That's the way we're going right now," said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose team has scored two runs or fewer in 14 of its first 29 games. More >

Drury does it again: Drury continued his impressive rookie campaign going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and drove in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning. Drury, who tied a club rookie record for home runs in April with four, is hitting .356 over his last 18 games..
"He works extremely hard," Hale said of Drury. "He was here for early hitting today, looks at a lot of video with [hitting coach Dave Magadan]. So he's as prepared as any of our guys."
Aybar's miscue: Though Teheran struggled with his command, he might have allowed just one run had shortstop Aybar held Daniel Castro's relay throw after Jake Lamb rounded second base too far after notching a RBI double in the third inning. Jean Segura raced toward the plate to tie the game after Aybar dropped the throw that he didn't see until the last second because his view was blocked by second-base umpire Carlos Torres.

QUOTABLE
"He struggled in his first four or five starts, so I knew he wanted to get ahead. I couldn't let that happen. We became good friends over the last year. I knew he was going to try to get two strikes and then blow me away. So, I just wanted to get to him before he got to me. I got him once. He got me twice. So, he won." -- Freeman, on Miller.
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
The Braves scored two runs through the first two innings. They provided Miller at least two runs of support in just 13 of the 33 starts that he made for them last year.
This is the first time the D-backs have won a series in Atlanta since 2007.
WHAT'S NEXT
D-backs:Patrick Corbin will make his seventh start of the year Sunday at 10:35 a.m. MST in the series finale against the Braves. Corbin had a 2.75 ERA in his first three starts this year and a 7.41 ERA over his last three..
Braves:Mike Foltynewicz will take the mound for Atlanta during the finale of this three-game set at 1:35 p.m. ET. Foltynewicz surrendered three first-inning home runs to the Mets on Monday while making his first start since being shut down by a blood clot in September.
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