ATLANTA – Tim Hudson extended his dominant stretch of starts with three-hit ball for eight innings and Brooks Conrad homered in the seventh to lift the Atlanta Braves to a 1-0 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.
Hudson (14-5) has won five straight starts and has yielded only two runs in the impressive period.
Wagner, who blew his seventh save against Houston on Wednesday, allowed a single to Scott Podsednik leading off the ninth. With one out, Podsednik was caught stealing before Wagner struck out Andre Ethier to earn his 29th save.
In the Braves’ first game since learning Chipper Jones would be lost for the season with a knee injury, Conrad made the first bid to fill the void.
Los Angeles right-hander Hiroki Kuroda gave up only three hits before Conrad’s 406-foot homer to center field with one out in the seventh. It was the second homer in as many games for Conrad, whose two-run homer gave the Braves the lead in Wednesday’s 8-2 win at Houston.