In his third start of the season Jair Jurrjens (2-1) suffered the first loss of the year, as Pittsburgh’s Paul Maholm (7 IP, 4 H, 3 BB, 2 SO) won a pitcher’s duel against the Braves right-hander. Jurrjens matched Maholm nearly pitch for pitch, but allowed a second-inning Brandon Moss run on a two-out groundout by Andy LaRoche. His overall line was 6.2 innings pitched, four hits, one run, two walks and seven strikeouts. He threw 120 pitches, 72 of them were strikes. His ERA for the season shrunk to 2.04.
Jurrjens also had a nice day at the plate, collecting a hit, a walk and a sacrifice hit in his three offensive appearances. Atlanta lost 0-3 in the end, as closer Mike Gonzalez gave up two more runs. They lost for the fourth time in a row and their record dropped back to the .500 mark after ten games. They play two more games in Pittsburgh, before traveling to take on the Nationals with Shairon Martis (starts on Tuesday) and Roger Bernadina. Jurrjens next start is going to be the series final on Wednesday.