Major League Baseball
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Atlanta 5, Tampa Bay 3
When: 7:10 PM ET, Friday, May 18, 2012
Where: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Temperature: Indoors
Umpires: Home - Gary Cederstrom, 1B - Lance Barksdale, 2B - Fieldin Culbreth, 3B - Adrian Johnson
Attendance: 19693

Braves 5, Rays 3: Martin Prado hit a two-run homer and Tommy Hanson pitched seven strong innings as visiting Atlanta handed Tampa Bay just its fifth home loss of the season.

Freddie Freeman went 2-for-5 with two RBIs and Prado added two hits and scored three times as the NL East-leading Braves won their 15th road game, most in the majors.

Atlanta jumped on Tampa Bay starter James Shields (6-2) for two runs in the first. Prado doubled and scored on Freeman’s single to center before Chipper Jones scored on a Shields wild pitch.

The Rays touched Hanson for single runs in the second and third, tying the contest at 2-2 on Luke Scott’s sacrifice fly to right in the bottom of the third.

Atlanta took the lead for good in the fifth on Freeman’s RBI double to left, scoring Prado. Brian McCann drove home Freeman with a single to right-center, giving the Braves a 4-2 advantage.

Prado’s solo homer to left in the seventh, his third of the season, pushed Atlanta’s lead to 5-2.

Hanson (5-3) scattered six hits across seven innings, walking two and striking out three. He threw 71 of his 106 pitches for strikes while lowering his ERA to 3.31.

Shields, vying to become the majors’ first seven-game winner, surrendered seven hits and four runs in six innings. He struck out eight and walked three.

Craig Kimbrel pitched the ninth for his 12th save.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Scott finished 3-for-3 and Elliot Johnson added two hits for the Rays. … Tampa Bay OF B.J. Upton stole two bases. … McCann raised his average to .260 with two hits.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Atlanta   Tampa Bay
Tommy Hanson Player James Shields
Win W/L Loss
7.0 IP 6.0
3 Strikeouts 8
6 Hits 7
2.57 ERA 6.00
Hitting
Atlanta   Tampa Bay
Martin PradoPlayer Luke Scott
2 Hits 3
1 RBI 2
1 HR 0
6 TB 3
.500 Avg 1.000
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Atlanta 10 1 15 .278 16 12 4 4 1 0
Tampa Bay 7 0 7 .219 12 4 3 2 3 1