Burroughs Leads Braves Over Giants

The San Francisco Giants came into Atlanta for a 3 game series but it was Jeff Burroughs who proved to be the giant of the series.  The Braves left fielder put on a hitting clinic for the home town fans as he proved to be a one man wrecking crew.  For the 3 game series Burroughs batted .615 (8-13) with a double, 2 triples, a homerun, 3 runs scored and 10 RBI!

Game 1   Atlanta 10   San Francisco 2
Jim Barr and Phil Niekro pitched well for 6 innings before a one hour rain delay forced them both to leave the game with the Giants leading 2-1.  The Braves benefited from the change of pitchers as Charlie Williams came on in the 7th and gave up 9 runs (2 earned) in the 2 innings he worked as Atlanta took the opener. Burroughs goes 3 for 4 with a double and 3 RBI.  Dale Murphy homered and also drove in 3 runs.

Game 2  San Francisco 8  Atlanta 6
Atlanta miscues cost them this game.  Bob Knepper and Preston Hanna were both pitching well and the game was knotted 1-1 after 4 innings and then the wheels came off for Atlanta.  San Francisco put up 5 unearned runs in the 5th on 2 of the Brave's 5 errors to take a 6-1 lead.  Hanna was removed after the 5th for a PH and all 6 runs against him were unearned.  Atlanta scored 3 in the bottom of the 5th on a 3 run shot by Burroughs to make the game interesting but they came up short in the end losing 8-6.  Burroughs again went 3 for 4 with a long ball and 4 RBI.

Game 3  Atlanta 7  San Francisco 2
Vida Blue for the Giants and Dick Ruthven for the Braves threw up goose eggs for 5 innings before the home team touched Blue for 2 runs in the bottom of the 6th when Burroughs tripled in the first run and scored the second on a Giant fielding error.  Ruthven sailed into the 8th with a shutout before he gave up a lead off homerun by Terry Whitfield.  He was replaced by Jamie Easterly who struck out the next 2 batters before Jack Clark tied it up with a solo shot to the right field bleachers. Lynn McGlothen, however, could not keep the Braves off the board in the bottom of the inning as Atlanta batted around scoring 5 times on their way to a 7-2 win.  Once again Jeff Burroughs was the hitting star going 2 for 5 (2 triples) and another 3 RBI.