Look! We gave up three runs or less......and lost!

The Braves continued their all-pitch, no-hit ways last night losing to the Reds 3-1. The team has lost 14 games when the pitching staff has given up 3 runs or less. Atlanta had their chances as they loaded the bases with no outs in the first inning, but Brian McCann grounded into a 5-2-3 double play that killed the rally. They also had the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning when Ryan Church grounded into a double play to cap the evening. There were some good performances, though. Derek Lowe gave up 3 runs in 7 innings with Peter Moylan and Kenshin Kawakami each throwing a scoreless inning in relief. Kawakami has been moved to the bullpen due to the return of Tim Hudson to the rotation. Kawakami has been pitching well, so I hope the change in his role will not affect him. On offense, Matt Diaz was 2-for-3 with a walk. Diaz is batting .480 over the last two weeks. Nate McLouth returned to the lineup and hit a solo home run for the only Atlanta RBI of the game. Game two of the series is tonight at 710p. Jair Jurrjens will pitch for the Braves.

Atlanta is 8.5 games behind the Phillies in the NL East and 1 game behind second-place Florida. The Braves are 5 games behind Colorado in the wild card race.

Lance Lynn made his AAA debut last night for the Memphis Redbirds. He threw 6-2/3 innings and gave up 2 runs. However, he did not get much run support and ended up with a no-decision. Lynn had 9 strikeouts and gave up 5 hits and 3 walks.