Vorstellung » That was Carlyles message

ATLANTA -- Craig Kimbrel found ninth-inning drama before a big stretch by Freddie Freeman saved the night for the Braves. Justin Upton hit a three-run homer to continue another strong April, Ervin Santana earned his third win and the Atlanta Braves held off the Cincinnati Reds 5-4 on Friday night. Kimbrel gave up a leadoff single to Roger Bernadina and walked Zack Cozart to open the ninth. Kimbrel struck out Brayan Pena and Chris Heisey before earning his seventh save on Joey Vottos groundout. Freeman made a long stretch at first base for Chris Johnsons throw from third base on Heiseys groundball. Reds manager Bryan Price challenged first base umpire Vic Carapazzas ruling that Freemans foot remained on the bag. The call was confirmed, ending the game. "Freddie did a terrific job staying on the bag," said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. He acknowledged he was nervous about the challenge before seeing the replay on the video board "and I felt kind of relaxed." Price said that when looking across the field he thought he saw "a huge gap" between Freemans foot and the bag. He said he agreed with the confirmed out call after seeing the replay. "I had a chance to come up here and look at our own video, which is what theyre getting in New York, and it was a confirmed out call," Price said. "They got the call right in the end, which is what were looking for." Two Cincinnati players left the game with injuries. Third baseman Todd Frazier was pulled in the fifth with tightness in his left leg. Catcher Devin Mesoraco strained his left hamstring and stumbled after rounding third base in the seventh, before limping across home plate. Price said he was protecting Frazier, who had previous tightness in his groin. Santana (3-0) gave up four runs on nine hits in 6 2-3 innings. Following singles by B.J. Upton and Freddie Freeman off Homer Bailey (1-2) in the first inning, Justin Upton hit his team-leading sixth homer. He leads the team with 15 RBIs. "Weve seen him do this before and carry us for a while," Gonzalez said. In 2013, Justin Upton led the majors with 12 homers in April, becoming the fastest player in Braves franchise history to reach the mark. He has hit 35 homers in April for his career, his highest total for any month. "Im just getting it going," said Upton, who is hitting .296 and leads the team with 15 RBIs. Freeman had three hits for Atlanta to shake a mini-slump. B.J. Upton, who was hitting .205, had one hit in his first game wearing prescription glasses. "Well see how the glasses work and if Ill keep them," he said. "I could see the ball better on both sides of the plate. It was good tonight." Bailey allowed five runs on nine hits in six innings. He allowed at least four earned runs for the fourth time in five starts this season and has a 6.15 ERA. The Braves increased their lead to 4-0 in the second on Jason Heywards RBI single. Evan Gattis drove in a run in the third for a 5-0 lead. Jay Bruce had a run-scoring single in the Reds two-run sixth. Cincinnati added two more in the seventh, knocking Santana out of the game. Mesoraco scored on Billy Hamiltons double. Votto had a run-scoring single off Luis Avilan. A strong defensive play by right fielder Jason Heyward helped Santana in the first inning. Votto doubled with one out in the first and moved to third on Phillips bloop single. Votto was thrown out at the plate on a strong throw by Heyward on Jay Bruces fly ball. Votto, sliding head-first, was tagged out in the batters box and never reached the plate. NOTES: Price said closer Aroldis Chapman, recovering from facial fractures and a mild concussion when hit by a line drive on March 19, will throw 35 to 40 pitches in batting practice on Saturday. If it goes well, it should be Chapmans final test before he is cleared for a minor league rehab assignment. ... Braves RHP David Hale will look for his first win of the season when he faces Reds RHP Mike Leake on Saturday. Baltimore Orioles Gear . PETERSBURG, Fla. Baltimore Orioles Store . Every. Single. Game. Thats 1,230 in total to cover the regular season. The man is Corey Sznajder, a soft-spoken 23-year-old Salisbury University grad who lives in Annapolis, Maryland and has been charting zone entries and zone exits throughout the NHL. I love big projects, he said. No kidding. At the 2013 Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, I met Eric Tulsky, who presented research on the value of controlled zone entries (short answer: about twice as valuable to enter with control of the puck rather than dumping it in) and Sznajder had charted a couple hundred games that were included in that study. https://www.cheaporioles.com/.com) - Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James will sit out Thursdays game against the Oklahoma City Thunder with left knee soreness. Baltimore Orioles Pro Shop . Ending a nine-game losing streak? That gave the Milwaukee Bucks veteran forward a reason to smile. Fake Orioles Jerseys . Tony Parker had 33 points and nine assists and San Antonio never trailed in a resounding 116-92 victory over Portland, bullying the younger Trail Blazers in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.TORONTO - Brendan Shanahan wants the Toronto Maple Leafs to own the puck, but hell wait and see how the teams identity develops over his first season as president.Addressing reporters Wednesday before the opener against the Montreal Canadiens, Shanahan hesitated to make sweeping generalizations about what he expects from a group thats different from the one that collapsed to miss last years playoffs.We certainly have some hopes, but things like your identity are not something that you say the afternoon of the home opener, Shanahan said. Its something that you earn by going out on the ice and establishing your identity.Shanahan said he encouraged players to write their story individually and as a team. The Leafs story before he took over was of disappointing endings, whether it be the Game 7 debacle against the Boston Bruins in 2013 or the way things fell apart with 12 losses in 14 games last spring.One thing Shanahan wants the Leafs to do better is hold onto the puck. They had the worst possession statistics in the NHL in 2013-14.The puck is something that we have to own a little bit more, Shanahan said.dddddddddddd There are teams that are built different ways to own the puck and have the puck. Thats the key to the hockey game.Minutes after coach Randy Carlyle said qualifying for the playoffs was one way for the Leafs to consider this season a success, Shanahan said the message to fans shouldnt be in words but in actions. to his players, too.There was a lot of time and effort put in over the course of the summer months to try to establish a template in which we would expect our players to play to, he said. Now its time to apply that. The last words I said to the players: Its up to you now.Without an enforcer on the opening-night roster, Carlyle has stressed team toughness.To Shanahan, that means something very specific.Players that when the temperature of a game goes up, they dont shrink, Shanahan said. To me it doesnt matter what your size is, where youre from. To me, as the temperature of a game goes up, players that sort of relish that moment and dont shrink in that role are players that impress us as a management group.---Follow @SWhyno on Twitter ' ' '