Atlanta – There were a lot of things said about the one-hit, 2-0 gem Braves right-hander Tim Hudson threw Monday night against the Rockies.
Descriptions of Hudson’s wicked sinker and cut fastball filled the Rockies’ clubhouse. But Colorado manager Clint Hurdle’s description was the shortest, sweetest and most accurate.
“Like a hot knife through butter,” he said.
When considering the sizzling run the Rockies have been on, that’s saying something.
Colorado came into Turner Field with four straight wins, a 10-3 road record and a .314 road batting average that topped the National League. Hudson extinguished those flames in a hurry.
“It just seemed like they had no chance,” Braves second baseman Marcus Giles said. “He just had a great sinker in tonight and kept them off balance with the cutter away. You could definitely see he had control of that game from pitch one.”
Hudson’s one-hitter was the first by a Braves pitcher since April 30, 1999, when John Smoltz shut down the Cincinnati Reds. It marked the 12th time the Rockies were victims of a one-hitter, and the first time since the Mets’ Tom Glavine beat the Rockies 4-0 in New York on May 23, 2004.
Nearly every baseball game has a touch of irony mixed into it, but Monday night’s game had loads of the stuff. Start with Rockies starter Jason Jennings, who got his team’s only hit, a single up the middle in the third inning.
“That’s kind of tough,” Hudson said. “He’s probably one of the better hitting pitchers out there. But he’s still a pitcher. He plays only once every five days. It would have been better if it was a cleanup hitter. Then I’d be able to stomach it a little better.”
Still, Hudson got a measure of revenge. His RBI single in the second inning proved to be the game-winner.
The final dose of irony was that Jennings’ performance – two runs and seven hits allowed in seven workmanlike innings – was easily his best of the season. In fact, he said it might have been the best game he has ever pitched … and lost.
“If I go out there and pitch that way, I’ll probably win 90 percent of the games,” said Jennings (1-2, 5.84 ERA). “So this is frustrating, obviously.”
But not so frustrating that Jennings couldn’t see the silver lining.
After his performance in Philadelphia last week in which he got pounded for seven runs and nine hits before getting the hook after five innings, Monday night’s performance was a confidence-booster.
“I was a lot different guy tonight than I was my last start, that’s for sure,” said Jennings, who slowed down his delivery and had excellent command of his sinker and four-seam fastball.
The closest the Rockies came to scoring was in the fourth when Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins squeezed walks out of Hudson, but the Rockies couldn’t bring them home.
The Rockies’ loudest at-bat was a third-inning line drive by Cory Sullivan that turned into a diving, highlight-reel catch by Giles.
Hudson, sporting a 9.31 ERA against the Rockies going into the game, pitched the fifth complete game of his career.
Asked if he appreciated Hudson’s craftsmanship, Jennings said: “I will tomorrow, I can’t right now.”
Staff writer Patrick Saunders can be reached at 303-820-5459 or psaunders@denverpost.com.
