Braves Lose as Reserves Play

On a night when Fredi Gonzalez decided to send the bench players out to get some at-bats, the Braves didn't produce again. They managed only one run in a 5-1 loss against the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates, losers of 18 of 23 games coming into play against the Braves, have won two in a row all of the sudden.
The reserves had more hits than the starters did yesterday with eight, but could never really string anything together to get more than one run. Third baseman Juan Francisco doubled to drive in first baseman Lyle Overbay for the only run. Outfielder Jose Constanza led the Braves with two hits. He, Francisco, and infielder Tyler Pastornicky gave Fredi a reason to put them on the postseason roster with solid performances tonight.
Tommy Hanson went back to being his old, struggling self. He gave up nine hits, and five runs in six innings and took the loss. His record falls to 13-10, a disappointing end to what began as a great season for Hanson. Reliever Chad Durbin was impressive pitching in the eighth inning, striking out two in his 76th appearance of the season. He has pitched in more games than anyone for the Braves this year.
It was announced that Ben Sheets will start tomorrow in place of Tim Hudson. This will give Hudson more than three days to rest before he would start on Sunday, if the Braves win on Friday night in the wild card game. Sheets will pitch for the first time since coming off the disabled list mid-way through September.
He was lured out of retirement earlier this year after two years away from the game. He went 4-1 with a 1.41 ERA through his first five games back, but then struggled in his next three, falling to 4-4 with a 3.54 ERA. Fredi said Sheets will attempt to go two innings, in what Sheets said will be the final game of his career as he will retire immediately after the game, which starts at 12:35p.m. tomorrow.

Chipper Jones watches from the dugout as the Braves lose Tuesday night, 5-1.
Photo Courtesy of sports.yahoo.com