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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ATLANTA (AP) -- Dominating.
Showing that he's now the best starter on a staff filled with Cy
Young winners, Kevin Millwood threw the first postseason one-hitter by
a pitcher in 32 years to give the Braves a critical 5-1 victory
over the Houston Astros on Wednesday, evening their first-round
series at one game apiece.
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GAME 2 AT A GLANCE
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Every game a hero
Kevin Millwood, who had a 1.43 ERA in September, continued his brilliant stretch run, allowing just one while striking out eight.
Key number
Millwood held opposing hitters to a .202 average this season, the best in baseball among starting pitchers. He had nine starts this year where he allowed three hits or less.
Last word
"You don't throw a one-hitter every day. It
was a lot of fun. Everything was working. My fastball was good. My
curveball was good. My slider was good."
-- Millwood
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"I was a little nervous before the game," Millwood said. "But
once I was on the mound, it was just like any other start."
Millwood, 24, who allowed a second-inning home run
to Ken Caminiti, stepped up this season while Greg Maddux, Tom
Glavine and John Smoltz -- with seven Cy Youngs among them -- went
through assorted struggles.
It was the first complete game one-hitter in the postseason
since Game 2 of the 1967 World Series, when Boston's Jim Lonborg
beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5-0, allowing a double to Julian
Javier with two outs in the eighth. Tom Glavine and Mark Wohlers
combined on a one-hitter for the Braves against Cleveland in Game 6
of the 1995 World Series.
"You don't throw a one-hitter every day," Millwood said. "It
was a lot of fun. Everything was working. My fastball was good. My
curveball was good. My slider was good."
With the Braves in a virtual must-win situation after losing the
first game 6-1 Tuesday, Millwood shut down the Astros, retiring 15
in a row after Caminiti's homer.
The streak was broken when third baseman Chipper Jones booted a
grounder with one out in the seventh, but the error didn't bother
his pitcher.
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Wed., October 6
Kevin Millwood was clearly on top of his game and you can't fault the Astros and Jose Lima, who pitched well enough to win on a normal day.
I thought the first inning Millwood was just a little shaky and he showed a little bit of
the adrenaline, but once he got past that inning he just looked like he was born to be out
there.
The key to his success was that he threw high fastballs and he kept his breaking ball
down. Pitching that way will get most hitters out. By keeping the fastball up with
enough velocity and having the breaking ball going down low you're usually going to get
most hitters out and Millwood proved that.
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Millwood got the next two batters on grounders. The Braves broke
open a 2-1 game with three runs in the bottom half on Brian
Jordan's sacrifice fly and run-scoring singles by Ryan Klesko and
Andruw Jones.
Millwood, 18-7 during the regular season, didn't pitch at all
the last two postseasons while the Braves were knocked out in the
NL Championship Series -- even though he won 17 games in 1998.
The best-of-5 series shifts to the Astrodome, where the next two
games will be played Friday and Saturday. If a fifth game is
needed, it would be at Turner Field on Sunday.
Jordan and Klesko flip-flopped in the batting order, a move that
paid off with two RBIs from Jordan, hitting fourth instead of
fifth.
Klesko, dropped from the cleanup spot to fifth, had three hits, scored
twice and drove in a run.
"It's a challenge," Jordan said. "All year long I've hitting
behind Chipper. He came up big for us against the Mets. Ever since
then teams have not wanted to pitch to him. I told him I'll be
back. If teams don't want to pitch to him I'll hurt them."
But everyone was overshadowed by Millwood, who expected to be
nervous in his first postseason appearance but turned out to be
dominating. He struck out eight, walked none and faced two batters
above the minimum.
Not that Millwood's performance was out of the ordinary -- for
him.
He flirted with a no-hitter several times during the regular
season, allowing only two hits in four separate starts. He went at
least six innings in every start after June 28. Overall, Millwood
finished second in the NL to Arizona's Randy Johnson with a 2.68
ERA and led the majors by allowing a .202 average to hitters.
The Braves got to Houston starter Jose Lima in the first inning,
with Gerald Williams scoring on Jordan's two-out, broken-bat
single. Lima might have been flustered by a visit from third-base
umpire Bruce Froemming before the very first pitch.
Froemming noticed a stain on the right hip of Lima's uniform and
walked over to check it out. The umpire appeared to touch the spot
with a finger before allowing Lima to proceed.
Lima, 21-10 during the regular season but 0-2 against the
Braves, went 6 2/3 innings, allowing four runs and nine hits.
Caminiti, who hit a three-run homer in the ninth inning Tuesday
to seal Houston's 6-1 victory, burned the Braves again in the
second inning. On a 1-2 pitch, Millwood tried to sneak a fastball
over the inside corner, and it wound up in the right-field seats.
That would be his only mistake.
Eddie Perez's sacrifice fly in the sixth broke a 1-1 tie. Andruw
Jones had the key hit in the inning, a double that broke his
0-for-20 slump in Division Series play. It was Atlanta's first
extra-base hit of this series.
Notes
The crowd of 41,913 was larger than Game 1, but still the
second-smallest in Atlanta postseason history. ... The Braves broke
a four-game home losing streak in the playoffs. ... Only once in
the 1990s have the Braves won a postseason series after losing the
first game -- in 1991, Atlanta defeated Pittsburgh 4-3 in the NL
Championship Series after losing Game 1. Since then, the Braves are
0-4 when they've lost the opener. ... Bill Spiers did not start for
Houston after going 2-for-4 in Game 1. Stan Javier took his place
in right field and went 0-for-4.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Houston Clubhouse
Atlanta Clubhouse
Millwood completely baffles Astros
RECAPS
Cleveland 3
Boston 2
Atlanta 5
Houston 1
Arizona 7
NY Mets 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Kevin Millwood was in control against the Astros.
wav: 171 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Jose Lima says "it is not over yet."
wav: 126 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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