ATLANTA – If his first two innings were an indication, Jair Jurrjens wondered if the Georgia heat might be too much to overcome against the Texas Rangers.
“They’d get two strikes and shorten their swings and they kept fouling off pitches,” Jurrjens said. “That’s not an easy lineup. You don’t really want to groove one in there and make it a big inning.”
Jason Heyward hit a two-run single in the third inning and Freddie Freeman added an RBI double in the seventh to help Jurrjens earn his ninth victory in the Atlanta Braves’ 4-2 win over the Rangers on Sunday.
The Braves snapped a two-game losing streak, while Texas dropped its ninth in 13 games.
Jurrjens (9-3) allowed one run, seven hits, two walks and struck out four in 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander lowered his NL-best ERA to 2.11, but he wasn’t so sure of his control after losing two of three starts.