Hudson's discovery lifts Braves

By wire services
Published August 7, 2005

ST. LOUIS - Tim Hudson got a pleasant surprise warming up in the bullpen for his fourth attempt at his 100th win: his split-finger fastball.

That helped him allow one run over seven innings in Atlanta's 8-1 victory against St. Louis on Saturday, his first win since July16.

"I've been afraid to use it, but all of a sudden, there it was. I haven't had a good one in three years. I only threw it about 10 times, but it was great to have it back," said Hudson, 100-45 in six-plus seasons. "It's one of the first milestones a starting pitcher can come across. It's nice to get it and get it out of the way."

Hudson got all the support he needed from Andruw Jones, who homered twice, including a grand slam, to increase his major-league-leading total to 35.

Jason Marquis, the only Cardinal starter with fewer than 10 wins, has lost four in a row and seven of his past 10 starts. He retired the first 12 batters before Jones' leadoff homer in the fifth made it 1-1. Wilson Betemit made it 2-1 later in the inning with a double that drove in Jeff Francoeur, who singled.

The Braves, who have won 10 of 14, then scored four in the sixth. Walks to Rafael Furcal and Marcus Giles and Kelly Johnson's single loaded the bases. Jones followed with a grand slam to left-center.

"When a pitcher like Marquis makes a mistake, you have to take advantage of it. If you don't, he can be really tough," Jones said. "He struck me out on the first at-bat with a slider. And I went up there looking for it the next time when I hit the first home run. I was looking for a slider with the bases loaded, and he threw me a fastball."

St. Louis had two on with one out in the sixth on singles by Albert Pujols and Mark Grudzielanek. But John Mabry struck out, and Abraham Nunez lined out to third.

John Rodriguez and Pujols reached to lead off the eighth for St. Louis, but Pujols was doubled up on a fly ball to short rightfield when he rounded second and couldn't beat the throw back to first.

[Last modified August 7, 2005, 01:31:12]