ATLANTA – Tim Hudson pitched seven scoreless innings and the Atlanta Braves posted their second straight 1-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Thursday, winning both times with an unearned run.
This was an especially galling loss for the Rockies. Juan Francisco raced home with the lone run when Colorado starter Jhoulys Chacin (2-5) dropped a routine throw back to the mound from his catcher.
Chacin glanced over toward third before making the catch, the ball bouncing off the side of his glove and winding up between the mound and second base. Francisco alertly spotted the miscue and took off for the plate, making it with a headfirst slide.
That was enough for Hudson (14-5), who stranded eight Colorado runners. Craig Kimbrel completed the shutout with a scoreless ninth for his 34th save.
It was the first time in more than 28 years that a team won consecutive 1-0 games with unearned runs. The Los Angeles Dodgers were the last to do it, against the Cincinnati Reds on July 28-29, 1984, according to STATS LLC.
Both teams squandered all sorts of chances to push across more runs, stranding nine runners apiece.
The Rockies' best chance against Hudson came in the third, when Dexter Fowler and Josh Rutledge led off with singles. Jordan Pacheco grounded out, moving the runners to second and third, but Wilin Rosario popped out to the shortstop and Tyler Colvin was thrown out after hitting a little squibber in front of the plate.
Atlanta was even more wasteful. The Braves loaded the bases with no outs in the third, only to come up empty. Francisco struck out, Uggla flied out to left — too shallow to bring home the run — and Brian McCann popped out to shortstop, dropping his head in disgust as soon as the ball left his bat.
In the fourth, Atlanta loaded the bases again, this time with one out. Same result. Jason Heyward flied out to shallow left, throwing down his bat in frustration, before Freddie Freeman popped up harmlessly on the infield to snuff out another threat.
But the wild card-leading Braves will take a win any way they can get it. The previous night, they scored the only run against the Rockies on a throwing error. They wound up taking three of four from Colorado — even after scoring just two runs over the final three games.
Colorado rookie Jordan Pacheco went 0 for 2 with a couple of walks, snapping a 14-game hitting streak.
NOTES: Braves SS Andrelton Simmons headed to Class A Lynchburg to complete his rehab assignment. He could rejoin Atlanta as soon as this weekend for the series in New York against the Mets. Simmons, the NL rookie of the month for June, has been out since breaking a finger in his right hand on a headfirst slide July 8. ... RHP Rob Scahill joined Colorado's expanded roster for the final month. He spent the entire season at Triple-A Colorado Springs, going 9-11 with a 5.68 ERA. ... Kimbrel was lugging five large boxes around the clubhouse before the game. They contained a bunch of goodies he ordered for his teammates from the All-Star game. His fellow relievers got All-Star gnomes, while everyone else received a gray T-shirt. Kimbrel also ordered something for himself: a baseball covered in 24-carat gold.
___
Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.