PHILADELPHIA — Once the Phillies finished celebrating their World Series title, the Braves spoiled the rest of the opening-night party.
Derek Lowe pitched eight superb innings, three Braves homered off Brett Myers, and Atlanta beat the defending champions 4-1 in the major-league opener Sunday night.
Brian McCann hit a two-run homer, Jeff Francoeur had a solo shot and Jordan Schafer went deep in his first career at-bat for the Braves.
“I made three mistakes, and they didn’t miss them,” Myers said. “Sometimes they pop those up. Not in this case. Give them credit.”
Lowe (1-0) allowed two hits with no walks and struck out four.
“He was awesome,” Braves manager Bobby Cox said of Lowe. “He really knows how to pitch.”
Lowe had far better success against Philadelphia on Sunday than he did in the NL Championship Series for Los Angeles. The Phillies beat Lowe in Game 1 of the NLCS, and he had a no-decision in the Dodgers’ loss in Game 4.
Atlanta AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Johnson 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Escobar ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 .250
Jones 3b 4 1 2 0 0 2 .500
McCann c 4 1 1 2 0 2 .250
Anderson lf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .250
Francoeur rf 4 1 1 1 0 1 .250
Kotchman 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Schafer cf 3 1 2 1 1 1 .667
Lowe p 3 0 0 0 0 2 .000
b-Norton ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Gonzalez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —
Totals 35 4 8 4 1 10
Philadelphia AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Rollins ss 4 0 1 0 0 0 .250
Werth rf 4 0 1 1 0 0 .250
Utley 2b 3 0 0 0 1 0 .000
Howard 1b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .000
Ibañez lf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Victorino cf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Feliz 3b 3 0 0 0 0 2 .000
Ruiz c 3 0 1 0 0 0 .333
Myers p 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
a-Dobbs ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Taschner p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —
Eyre p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —
Durbin p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —
Lidge p 0 0 0 0 0 0 —
c-Bruntlett ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 1.000
Totals 31 1 4 1 1 6
Atlanta 220 000 000 — 4 8 0
Philadelphia 000 000 001 — 1 4 0
