TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
schultz
ING
MLB
PAGE 11
Braves end losing streak beating Nationals 3-2
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA Andrelton Simmons hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the seventh inning, then made an eye-popping play to start the ninth as the Atlanta Braves beat the Washington Nationals 3-2 on Monday night and ended their four-game losing streak.
Atlanta beat the Nationals for the eighth straight time dating to last season. The Braves swept three games at Washington earlier this month.
Ian Desmond off the ninth with a slow grounder that Simmons charged. The Atlanta shortstop slipped as he fielded the ball and fell on his backside, but somehow fired a strike from the seat of his pants that first baseman Freddie Freeman caught his a big stretch. Desmond was called out on a dose play, and disagreed with the decision. Washington manager Davey Johnson came out to argue with umpire Tim Timmons.
Washington's Stephen Strasburg ended his career-worst streak of losses in four straight starts. He allowed two runs in six innings.
Gerald Laird led off the Braves' seventh with a walk from Tyler Clippard (1-1). Laird moved up on pinch-hitter Tyler Pastonicky's sacrifice bunt and was held at third on Jordan Schafer's single.
Simmons' fly ball to right allowed Laird to slide safely headfirst across the plate.
Jordan Walden (1-0) struck out three in 1 2-3 hitless innings. He replaced Julio Teheran, who allowed 10 hits and two runs in 5 1-3 innings.
Eric O'Flaherty struck out two in a perfect eighth and Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth for his ninth save.
Freeman followed Upton's hit with a single to left field, but took a wide turn around first and was thrown out. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez argued the call with Timmons at first base, and replays indicated Freeman's hand was on
Strasburg gave up six hits, walked four and struck out eight. He looked uncomfortable in the first inning as his first pitch to Schafer sailed to the backstop. Schafer walked, stole second and scored on Justin Upton's soft single.
the bag before he was tagged.
Former Braves star Chipper Jones visited his former teammate and hunting buddy Adam LaRoche, now the Nationals' first baseman, before the game. Jones, who has said he has possible interest in becoming a hitting coach, watched video with LaRoche of the slumping left-handed hitter's swing.
The video review with Jones must have helped as LaRoche led off the second inning with a single to snap his 0-for-26 drought. LaRoche's hit started a string of four straight singles, including run-scoring hits by Chad Tracy and Kurt Suzuki, to give Washington a 2-1 lead.
Freeman walked to lead off the fourth, and singles by Dan Uggla and Laird made it 2-all.
Washington's Jayson Werth crumpled to the ground after fouling a ball off his left foot in the eighth. He completed his at-bat — a strikeout — and was replaced in right field by Roger Bernadina in the bottom of the inning.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg works against the Atlanta Braves during the first inning of a baseball game yesterday in Atlanta.
NBA
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hawks power forward Anthony Tolliver reacts to play against the Indiana Pacers during 'game of our first-round NBA basketball playoff game yesterday.
Hawks beat Indiana for 13th straight time
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA — Josh Smith scored 29 points as the Atlanta Hawks built a 17-point lead at halftime, then withstood an Indiana comeback the final two quarters to even the series with a 102-91 victory in Game 4 on Monday night.
After struggling much of the second half, Smith made every big play down the stretch. He swished a rare 3-pointer, came up with an offensive rebound to set up a 3 by Kyle Korver, then finished off a fast break with a right-handed dunk.
Paul George scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half as the Pacers made a game of it but couldn't come back from a 57-40 deficit at the break.
Korver added 19 points off the bench, most of them coming on his specialty: the 3-pointer. He knocked down five from outside the arc, including the biggest one with 2:33 remaining after Al Horford threw up a wild shot that missed. Smith snatched one of his 11 rebounds and spotted Korver lurking all alone on the outside.
Tied at two wins apiece, the series returns to Indianapolis for Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Horford chipped in with 18 points.
Indiana was better offensively
FOOTBALL
Kansas football players invited to attend NFL mini-camps
FARZIN VOUSOUGHIAN
fvousoughian@kansan.com
Four more former Jayhawks received invitations to NFL mini-camps after the 2013 NFL Draft. Center Trevor Marrongelli received an invite to the Detroit Lions' mini-camp, but has yet to decide if he will take the opportunity.
Marrongelli started 30 games during his Kansas career, playing both guard and center. He started his last 24 games of his career, helped the Jayhawks produce a 1,000-yard rusher in James Sims and ranked second in rushing in
The Nebraska transfer started all 12 games at defensive end during his senior season. He made 24 tackles on the season, including two for a loss. Williams added
three fumble recoveries, a forced fumble and two quarterback hurries on the season. He recorded a career-high six tackles at Baylor.
Defensive end Josh Williams has been invited by the Chicago Bears to their mini-camp.
The Jacksonville Jaguars invited offensive guard Duane Zlatnik to their mini-camp.
Bakare played in 23 games during his career, picking up seven starts at linebacker. He had 87 tackles, 5.5 for a loss and one sack. He had a career-best 11 tackles at Texas in 2011.
Zlatnik earned Big 12 Honorable Mention honors in 2012 from the Associated Press. He started 32 games during his Kansas career. He started the final 31 of the final 32 games of his career.
the Big 12 his senior season.
Along with Williams, linebacker Tunde Bakare also received an invite to Chicago's mini-camp.
— Edited by Jordan Wisdom
the heartland.
The Pacers played with much more effort than they did Saturday, but it didn't matter in the second quarter. Not with the Hawks gunning away from the outside — they went 7 of 8 from 3-point range in the period — and running the court with so much abandon that coach Larry Drew had to call a 20-second timeout late in the first half just to allow his players to catch their breath.
they take care of business on their home court.
It wasn't enough.
but still struggled to make shots, finishing at 38 percent on a 32-of-84 performance. George came alive after halftime, connecting three times from beyond the stripe, while every other starter was in double figures.
Then again, Indiana must be wondering how the series got to this point after the Pacers dominated the first two games in their building, averaging 110 points and a 16-point margin of victory.
The Hawks turned the momentum with a 90-69 blowout in Game 3, then did enough good things in the first half to get the series back where it started as they return to
The Hawks beat Indiana for the 13th straight time at Philips Arena, a streak that dates to 2006. But the Pacers can take solace with not having to win in Atlanta, as long as