Braves snap Yankees' 10-game winning streak
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Jason Heyward knocked in the go-ahead run in the top of the sixth inning and the Atlanta Braves held on for a 4-3 win over the Yankees, snapping New York's 10-game winning streak.
Heyward also tripled and threw a runner out at the plate.
"He shows flashes of greatness," Braves starter Tim Hudson said of Heyward. "Defensively he's been awesome...he's been coming up with some really big hits lately, it's nice to see."
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Andrelton Simmons had two RBI and Chipper Jones added a run-scoring double for the Braves, who won for just the second time in their last nine games.
Hudson (5-3) gave up three runs -- two earned -- on four hits with five walks and five strikeouts in five innings.
Nick Swisher stroked a two-run double for New York, while Hiroki Kuroda (6-7) allowed four runs on six hits and three walks over seven innings to suffer his first loss since May 21.
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"Give them credit," Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said. "They had a lot of big plays, they came up big when they needed to."
The Braves broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth. Brian McCann bounced a double over the wall in left-center field to start the frame. A two-out walk by Jones put men on the corners and Heyward, who gunned down Teixeira at home to end the fifth, hit a liner off the New York first baseman's left heel for an infield single that scored McCann.
Atlanta reliever Jonny Venters pitched out of a jam in the seventh to preserve the lead. The first two Yankees reached base, as Curtis Granderson singled and Alex Rodriguez walked. A groundout placed runners on second and third before Teixeira reached on a 5-2 fielder's choice. Venters fanned Raul Ibanez for the third out.
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Craig Kimbrel struck out a pair of Yankees in the ninth en route to earning his 20th save of the season.
New York jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second when Hudson allowed three consecutive hits to begin the inning. Teixeira singled and Ibanez doubled -- snapping an 0-for-15 drought -- before Swisher, who returned after missing two games with a left quad contusion, plated both men by driving Hudson's pitch deep to center and just off Michael Bourn's glove.
The Braves halved their deficit in the third on a Simmons groundout that scored Heyward, who hustled for a leadoff triple, and then moved ahead in the next frame.
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Martin Prado led off with a single, took second on a wild pitch and advanced to third when McCann flied out to center.
After Freddie Freeman, playing for the first time since last Tuesday, worked a two-out walk, Jones ripped an RBI double past first baseman Teixeira. Heyward then drew a free pass, loading the bases for Simmons and the rookie shortstop hit a single up the middle to plate Freeman, who had been dealing with a swollen left index finger, and put Atlanta on top.
Granderson threw Heyward out at third to prevent a second run from scoring on Simmons' hit.
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The Yankees tied the game in the home fourth without the benefit of a hit, capitalizing on a pair of errors. Hudson struck out Granderson with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Game Notes
Atlanta snapped a six-game losing streak to the Yankees...New York finished 2- for-11 with runners in scoring position and left nine men on base...Kuroda recorded six strikeouts. He had been 3-0 with a 1.29 ERA in his previous four outings.