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 Perez, starting in place of the traded Jhoulys Chacin, faced just
a batter over the minimum in eight innings and the Braves snapped an
11-game home losing streak with a 5-1 victory over the Philadelphia
Phillies.
"Perez was really, really good," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.
"You can't ask for anything more."
Freddie Freeman was 3-for-4 and hit his sixth home run to back Perez
as the Braves (8-23) won for just the second time in 18 games at
Turner Field.
The only hits off Perez were a fifth-inning homer by Ryan Howard and
a single by Freddie Galvez in the eighth that was followed by a
double play.
"Hopefully this is one of those performances where he turns the
corner," Gonzalez said. "He's been up four, five, six times in the
past two years and usually when he got sent down it was because he
wasn't going deep in games and pounding the strike zone. This time
he did."
 Perez (1-0) was promoted from Triple-A earlier in the day when
Chacin was traded to the Los Angeles Angels and he built off the
one-hitter he had thrown in his last start for Gwinnett.
The 24-year-old right-handed pitcher from Venezuela struck out four
and walked none before being lifted for a pinch hitter, throwing all
except 22 of his 85 pitches for strikes. He went three balls to just
one hitter.
"I made some mechanical adjustments (before the last game for
Gwinnett) and everything was working for me tonight," Perez said
through an interpreter. "It felt good."
Perez retired 12 straight batters before Howard connected with the
first pitch of the fifth inning for his eighth homer of the season.
He left a sinker up and Howard sent an opposite-field liner just
over the fence in left field.
That was the only mistake Perez made, though.
"We ran into a guy who was on his game," said Howard, whose last
four hits dating to April 29 have been home runs.
Phillies starter Jared Eickoff (1-5) didn't come close to matching
Perez.
The Braves scored in each of the first three innings and Freeman's
homer to center field with one out in the fifth knocked the
right-hander out of the game.
Eickoff allowed seven hits and three of the four runs were earned in
his shortest outing of the season.
Eickoff has been fine tuning his changeup and it isn't where he
wants it to be yet.
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"It's still a work in progress," he said. "It was good in the
bullpen and then in the game I kind of pushed them a little bit. I
don't know if I trusted it enough or what."
Kelly Johnson had an RBI single in the first, then Nick Markakis and
A.J. Pierzynski delivered sacrifice flies the next two innings
against Eickoff.
The Braves scored their second unearned run of the game in the
eighth on the third error by the Phillies (18-15) for an extra
cushion and Arodys Vizcaino finished off the victory while allowing
two ninth-inning singles.
Perez was summoned Wednesday morning from Rochester, where he was
scheduled to pitch for Gwinnett that night, and arrived at the
ballpark in mid-afternoon at about the same time the trade of Chacin
was announced.
He made 20 starts and three relief appearances for Atlanta as a
rookie last year, going 7-6 for a 4.38 ERA.
Perez had a 5.11 ERA in three April starts for the Braves and he
didn't fare any better in his first two starts in Triple-A before
throwing his first career shutout against Charlotte last Friday.
"It was his night," the Phillies' Cameron Rupp said. "We didn't get
him."
NOTES: RHP Jhoulys Chacin made five starts for the Braves prior to
his trade to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday, going 1-2 with a
5.40 ERA. In exchange for Chacin, the Braves received LHP Adam
McCreery, a 6-foot-8 former 22nd-round draft choice who hasn't
pitched above the rookie level in the minors. ... Each team batted
its starting pitcher eighth in the order. ... The three-game series
concludes Thursday night, with RHP Vince Velasquez (4-1, 2.17 ERA)
starting for the Phillies against RHP Aaron Blair (0-2, 3.31 ERA).
... The Phillies have a nine-game homestand beginning Friday against
Cincinnati. ... The Braves' weekend interleague series in Kansas
City begins a 10-game trip.
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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