ATLANTA - The stiff, steady breeze at Turner Field on Sunday afternoon did nothing for the cold John Smoltz was fighting.
It did, however, bring a grin to the Atlanta starter's face when it helped him to his second win of the year.
Smoltz, with the wind's aid, dodged a hulking bullet off the bat of Scott Rolen in the fifth to grind through 6w innings in the Braves' 2-1 victory in front of 34,304 fans.
Another day, another one-run game between teams that won't meet again until the first week in August.
It was the third time already this season that the Braves have rallied to win two of the final three games in a series.
Neither of those other teams were the defending National League champs, though.
"It was a big series win for us," Smoltz said. "That's a good team and everybody knows it."
Smoltz admitted through sniffles and coughs that he was without his best stuff for his second consecutive start.
"The last two games have been two, pretty much, grinders for me," Smoltz said. "To come away with two victories is nice. You want to feel like those efforts can result in a win and they have."
Like Wednesday in New York, his first win of the year, the cold, gusting wind was partially to blame.
Blowing hard all day from the left-field foul pole to first base, balls hit to left field were simply not going over the wall.
Certainly included in that was Rolen's shot in the fifth.
"(My heart) didn't stop. That ball was gone," Smoltz said. "The way he hit and where the pitch was ... there was nothing I could do about it."
He was relieved when the ball settled into the glove of left fielder Ryan Langerhans, who was standing at the base of the wall to the right of the 380-foot mark in left-center.
Smoltz improved to 2-3 and saw his ERA drop to 3.22 after giving up only a run for the second consecutive start.
"He was real gutty again. It's hard to throw a breaking ball in that wind," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "I thought he made the pitches when he had to."
Jeff Suppan was far more sharp than Smoltz early on, especially given the conditions.
He gave up only a single through five innings - and Smoltz hit that.
The Braves finally got something going against Suppan (2-3) in the sixth. Wilson Betemit led off the inning with a walk. Smoltz bunted him over to second.
Then, Rafael Furcal doubled to drive in Betemit. Langerhans followed with a single to drive in Furcal and supply Smoltz - and relievers Chris Reitsma and Dan Kolb - with all the support they would need.
Contact Travis Haney at travis.haney@morris.com.
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