The Braves have always been known for their top notch pitching. John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Warren Spahn, Johnny Sain, and Phil Niekro are a few notable stars that have pitched for the Braves franchise, and they definitely pitched well in that Braves uniform.
Throughout the history of this pitching rich franchise there have been countless clutch pitching performances in playoff games and regular season games alike.
In this slideshow I will show the five most clutch pitching performances since the team’s inception in 1876 (Yeh, this country was only 100 years old when the Braves were founded, not really that easy finding five games to chose from). The list was complied not only from best overall pitching performances, but included were the circumstances in which they occurred. For instance, Dewayne Wise’s catch last year saving Mark Buehrle’ s no hitter is not the best catch ever, but when you consider the circumstances that he made the catch, it has to be considered.
Lets start off with some of the great performances in Braves history that did not make the list…
Tom Glavine’s seven shutout innings leading to a 1-0 victory in game three of the NLCS against the New York Mets in New York City was left off.
John Smoltz’s gem in one of the Braves’ most memorable games, game seven of the 1992 NLCS, didn’t quite cut it.
Lew Burdette’s complete game shutout in game seven which lead to the Braves’ second World Series in 1957 wasn’t good enough to make this list.
Even Greg Maddux’s eight inning, six-hit shutout against the New York Yankees in New York City in game two of the World Series was not able to crack to the top five.
The Braves have three World Series titles in their storied history and you can bet there are a few dominant outings from some Braves starters on this list. And so, without further ado here are the five most clutch performances in the history of the Braves franchise…
5. Bill James – 1914 World Series, Game 2
Maybe 1914 was a bit too long ago for you to remember (What, you’re not 96?), and maybe Bill James (No, not the stat guy) is not exactly a name that pops up into your head when you think of Braves’ pitchers, but his outing in game two of the 1914 World Series was simply astonishing.
Bill James pitched in 60 games in his career, 37 of which were in the 1914 season. In the 1914 season, at age 22, James won 26 games and started only nine after that season. Needless to say, James had a very odd career but he was very crucial in the Braves’ first ever World Series title.
The Boston Braves were playing the Philadelphia Athletics and were leading the series 1-0 before it was James turn to pitch. Pitching for the A’s was Hall of Famer Eddie Plank. Plank had already had quite the career with the Athletics and the matchup of a future Hall of Famer against a 22-year old was obviously in Philadelphia’s favor.
Both pitchers had great days on the mound as the game was scoreless into the ninth inning. The Braves ended up scoring on a fluke double by Charlie Deal as Amos Strunk lost the ball in the sun, not that I expect you to know who those two are, but a quick recap of the events of the game seemed a bit necessary.
James allowed only three base runners, and he picked off two of them. James pitched a complete game, two-hit shutout and the Braves eventually swept the Athletics. James’ strong nine innings in Philadelphia played a large part in the teams first ever championship as he etched his place in the Braves history books.
4. John Smoltz – 1991 World Series, Game 7
John Smoltz was one of the top playoff pitchers of all-time, and it only makes sense for him to have a spot on this list. The Braves were in the midst of a storybook season and Smoltz toed the slab for game seven in Minnesota for the deciding game seven.
Smoltz pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings as he continually shut down the Twins’ scoring chances. Unfortunately for Smoltz and the Braves, Jack Morris was just as masterful on this night as he pitched 10 scoreless innings and won the World Series for Minnesota.
Morris’ outing often overshadows Smoltz’s but at the ripe old age of 24, Smoltz was not finished with his playoff dominance yet. The Braves could not score in the eighth with the bases loaded, (mostly due to a fake double play by the Minnesota middle infield that kept Lonnie Smith at third instead of scoring) and Gene Larkin ended the game with a walk off single over the drawn in outfielder’s heads.
Despite the loss, this was Smoltz’s most incredible pitching performance and still ranks as one of the top clutch performances in franchise history.
3. Steve Avery – 1991 NLCS, Game 6
One of the best duels of all-time occurred on October 16, 1991 in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania as Steve Avery, 21, faced the 1990 NL Cy Young winner Doug Drabek in game six.
Just a season prior the Braves were the worst team in the National League. They were fortunate enough just to be where they were, and they faced elimination with one of the top pitchers in the league ready to take the mound.
Avery was up to the challenge and he threw eight scoreless innings without allowing a runner to pass first base. Avery allowed only three hits in those eight masterful innings. Greg Olson doubled home Ron Gant in the top of the ninth and Alejandro Pena closed the game out in an eventful bottom half.
The Braves went on to win game seven and advance to the World Series in the storied “worst to first” season. Avery did not have the career most had hoped he would have, but the then 21-year old lefty will always be remembered for his outstanding performance in Game 6 of the ’91 NLCS.
2. Lew Burdette – 1957 World Series, Game 5
Lew Burdette was the star of the 1957 World Series as he was able to shut the Yankees out two times, leading to the Braves second title.
With the Series tied 2-2 and the final two games in Yankee Stadium, Burdette had to oppose Yankee ace Whitey Ford in the last game of the season in Milwaukee. Burdette was up for the matchup, avoiding a first inning scare that saw the leadoff man get to second thanks to a sacrifice bunt but got out of the inning and closed the game out with a complete game shutout.
Burdette later on threw another complete game shutout in game seven of the Series, but had the Braves lost game five he may not have had that same opportunity. Burdette became the first player in World Series history to throw two complete game shutouts since the renowned Christy Mathewson.
Burdette was named World Series MVP after three complete games and two shutouts. No game was more crucial and no outing was more clutch than his performance in Milwaukee against the legendary New York Yankees in Game 5.
1. Tom Glavine – 1995 World Series, Game 6
On Oct. 28, 1995 the Atlanta Braves had their most clutch pitching performance in franchise history. Tom Glavine won his second game of this World Series and he did it in incredible fashion against the Cleveland Indians.
Glavine threw eight shutout innings while allowing just one hit in the Braves’ World Series clincher. This was only the eighth one-hitter in World Series history and it came at the most crucial of times for the Braves.
This was the Braves’ third World Series appearance since 1991. They made the Series two more times in 1996 and 1999, but in their streak of 14 straight division titles they only took home the trophy in 1995. Without Glavine’s performance the Braves may have gone down as the biggest choke artists in sports history, right there with the Buffalo Bills, but Glavine was able to throw the best game of his career and subsequently won the 1995 World Series MVP.
Glavine will go down as one of the best left handed starts in the history of the game and he will be in the Hall of Fame with his teammates Greg Maddux and John Smoltz, but neither of them had as clutch of a pitching performance as Tom Glavine did on that October night in 1995.
Posted by bduronio 
