PulseJournal.com

ATLANTA — The Boss Man, Bob Castellini, popped into town to watch his chattels, a side visit from a house he owns in Sea Island, Ga.

It was no prettier up close and personal than it was watching it on Direct TV.

In fact, Castellini has seen better looking rotten tomatoes in his day than the 2-0 stinker his Cincinnati Reds lost to the Atlanta Braves on Friday, May 2, at Turner Field.

It was supposed to be a night for a pitcher to show his stuff, and one did, but not the one advertised.

Edinson Volquez, 4-0 when the night began, was the featured attraction — and he wasn't bad — but Atlanta's Tim Hudson, 3-2 with a 3.74 earned-run average at game's start, had the Reds eating sunflower seeds out of his right hand all night.

Volquez was more than pedestrian — six innings, two runs (one earned), four hits, two walks and nine strikeouts. But his supporting cast was put on life support by Hudson.

Hudson gave up three singles, walked none and struck out 10, all 10 in the first six innings. He retired the first eight Reds and it took pitcher Volquez's first major-league hit to erase the '0' off the hits total on the scoreboard.

Volquez was humming and purring for three innings, giving up a couple of hits in the first inning that produced no damage. He struck out six in the those three innings.

Then came the fourth and Chipper Jones led with a long drive to the wall in center that Corey Patterson dropped for a two-base error.

Volquez came back and struck out Mark Teixeira.

Then, on a 2-2 count to catcher Brian McCann, Volquez offered a flat changeup and McCann lofted it into the right field seats for a 2-0 Atlanta lead that stood the test of time and Hudson's arm.

"I had fastball in my head and changed my mind," Volquez said. "Bad pitch. It was right in the middle of the plate and when you do that, that's what happens in the big leagues."

Perhaps success bred contempt. When the Braves had two runners on in the first inning, Volquez retired McCann on a pop out to second, "On a changeup," he said.

The closest the Reds came to dirtying home plate was in the eighth when Edwin Encarnacion led with an infield single and took second on a throwing error by Atlanta shortstop Yunel Escobar.

But Scott Hatteberg grounded out to on a roller to Hudson, Paul Bako grounded to short, moving Encarnacion to third and pinch-hitter Joey Votto was robbed on a super stab by first baseman Teixeira.

Needing baserunners in the ninth, all three Reds flied out — Patterson, Jeff Keppinger and Ken Griffey Jr., giving Hudson his 11th career shutout and 22nd career complete game.

"Edinson pitched a good ballgame, but got that changeup up to McCann and that was it," Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "That's the best I've seen Hudson since he was in Oakland, that's the Hudson I knew in Oakland. His ball was dipping and diving and he had perfect command. You can't take anything away from him, he was dealing."

Baker also said his team's reputation preceded it to Atlanta, a struggling team that wasn't hitting.

"I like to think it was Hudson and not us," he said. "When a pitcher is dealing like that, boy, it's like you don't have much of a chance. When you are struggling, the other team knows you are struggling and they tend to relax.

"Hank Aaron told me a long time ago that the toughest pitcher to face is a pitcher who is relaxed," Baker added. "They read the box scores, and they see we're not scoring a bunch of runs. Therefore he is relaxed all night. I've been in a couple of no-hitters and that's what they look like — a pitcher never in the stretch and in the wind-up all night long."

Speaking of Hank Aaron, maybe Baker can talk him out of retirement to bat in the middle of his lineup.

On Friday, Griffey, Brandon Phillips and Adam Dunn were 1-for-10 (a fourth-inning single by Griffey), but it didn't much matter because the 1-2 guys, Patterson and Keppinger, were 0-for-8 with three strikeouts.

Said Volquez, now 4-1 with a 1.27 ERA, "That was a great game, and we just didn't get our runs today."

In his previous five starts, the Reds scored 35 runs, 27 in his last three, "So I guess I was paying for those tonight," he said with a smile.

Right after the game, Volquez was in front of a laptop studying video of the pitch to McCann and it conferred his fears — "Right in the middle and that's what happens when you make that kind of pitch in the big leagues. My only bad pitch? Yeah, I think so."

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