Jake Peavy celebrated his 35th birthday by completing his most impressive start of the season and setting the stage for Denard Span to deliver a triple that proved decisive for the Giants during Tuesday night’s 4-0 win over the Braves at Turner Field.

Span’s sixth-inning RBI triple provided the only run necessary for the Giants, who have won 16 of their past 19 games. Peavy surrendered just one hit as he faced the minimum over seven scoreless innings. The veteran right-hander held the Braves hitless until Tyler Flowers opened the bottom of the fifth inning with a single.
“If he hadn’t turned 35 today, I might have left him out there,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “Seriously, he did a beautiful job.”
Aware of Peavy’s birthday, Span approached him hours before the game and inquired about his age. “He said he was 35,” Span related. “I said, ‘That’s it?'”
Braves starter Matt Wisler surrendered four hits and three runs over seven-plus innings. The young hurler exited after allowing a Gregor Blanco double that fueled San Francisco’s three-run eighth inning.
“I was just looking at the box score and what his line did, and I said, ‘He was a lot better than what that showed,'” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s just a shame we couldn’t put a few runs up for him and just give him something to work with.”
It was easy to foresee Peavy’s collapse after he had to hustle around the bases in the sixth, a trip that began when he broke from first base on a steal attempt as Span connected for his triple. In fact, Adonis Garcia led off the Braves’ half of the inning with a drive to right field that Hunter Pence caught a couple of steps in front of the wall. But Peavy recovered by striking out Wisler and retiring Mallex Smith on a fly ball.
Peavy threw only 10 pitches in the sixth.
“That was a big inning for him, to get us back in the dugout,” Giants catcher Buster Posey said.
Wisler faced the minimum through the first five innings and retired the first two batters he faced in the sixth before surrendering a two-out single to Peavy, who promptly scored on Span’s triple. The Braves right-hander had also surrendered a key two-run single to Brewers starting pitcher Wily Peralta during Thursday night’s loss to Milwaukee.
“I threw the ball exactly where I wanted [to Peavy],” Wisler said. “He just got a broken-bat single. There’s nothing you can do about that, and then the two-seam [fastball] to Span didn’t get all the way out to where it needed to be and he put a good swing on it and got a triple.”
Span is beginning to heat up offensively. He’s 10-for-23 (.435) in his last six games, helping the Giants increase their offensive production. He has recorded three multiple-hit games in this stretch. Span’s final hit, a single that he chopped over the head of second baseman Kelly Johnson, who was playing in, drove in a run during San Francisco’s three-run eighth.
Smith’s attempt to record a bunt single with two outs in the third inning was denied by Posey, who quickly corralled the ball near the third-base line and fired a perfect strike to retire the speedy outfielder. Posey’s quick reaction helped limit the Braves to one hit in a home game for just the fifth time since Turner Field opened in 1997.
“If you’re performing for everybody on your birthday, that’s pretty good. … You’ve got to tip your hat to him. He was aggressive and spotting everything up. We hit a couple of balls hard but not that many to even threaten.” — Snitker on Peavy’s performance
Albert Suarez will make his first Major League start Wednesday as San Francisco continues its four-game series against Atlanta with a 6:10 p.m. CT encounter. Atlanta will counter with Williams Perez, who pitched effectively in San Francisco last year and then endured a rough outing against the Giants at Turner Field. Perez has allowed two earned runs or fewer in three of the four starts he’s made since returning from Triple-A Gwinnett.  Thunder Radio will bring you the broadcast on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network beginning at 6 PM.

Chad Pinder hit a walk-off two-run single in the bottom of the 12th inning to give the Nashville Sounds a thrilling 7-6 win over the Round Rock Express in front of 6,104 fans Tuesday night at First Tennessee Park.

The win extended the season-long winning streak to nine games for the Sounds who have won 16 of their last 17 games. It also pushed Nashville’s American South Division lead to 3.5 games over the Express.

Trailing 6-5 going to the bottom of the 12th, Max Muncy started the rally when he drew a walk off of Carlos Fisher. The right-hander bounced back and retired the next two hitters to put the game on the shoulders of Ryon Healy.

The Sounds’ first baseman answered when he ripped a double down the left field line. It looked like Muncy would easily score from first, but he tripped on the third base bag and had to quickly retreat to the base.

Round Rock elected to intentionally walk Matt Olson to load the bases for Pinder. The shortstop hit a 2-1 pitch down the right field line to score Muncy and Healy with the tying and winning run.

Nashville trailed for the better part of the game. A solo homer from Renato Nunez trimmed the deficit to 3-2 in the sixth, and Bruce Maxwell’s RBI groundout evened the game at 3-3 in the seventh.

With the game still tied in the bottom of the ninth, Olson rifled a double down the right field line to give Nashville a lead off base runner. They failed to score him as Pinder and Joey Wendle struck out, and Jaycob Brugman flied to center after Maxwell drew a walk.

The bad fortune continued immediately in the top of the 10th when James Jones sliced a double down the left field line for Round Rock.

Delino DeShields dropped down a bunt which pitcher Tucker Healy threw into left field trying to cut down Jones at third. The runner scored to give Round Rock a 4-3 lead. The next batter, Drew Robinson, doubled to drive in DeShields to make it 5-3.

Andrew Faulkner was called on to work the bottom of the 10th for Round Rock. He struck out Muncy before he walked Nunez and allowed a single to Andrew Lambo.

Faulkner came back to strike out Ryon Healy but Olson sent a two-out, two-strike, two-run double to the right-center gap that scored Nunez and Lambo to knot the game at 5-5.

It remained 5-5 until Brett Nicholas singled home Robinson in the top of the 12th. It looked like Round Rock would escape with the win until Nashville’s rally in the home half of the frame.

With the win, the Sounds finished the month of May with a 22-8 record. The only other professional team with that many wins in May was the Double-A Akron Aeros who matched the number.

Game two of the four-game series is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at First Tennessee Park. Right-hander Angel Castro (0-2, 5.68) starts for the Sounds against left-hander Michael Roth (4-1, 1.69). First pitch is set for 12:05 p.m.