h spent last season racing Indy Lights

[blueberryjerry]

PHOENIX -- Nine days past his 26th birthday, Craig Kimbrel is the Atlanta Braves career leader in saves. . That number figures to get a lot bigger before hes through. Kimbrel got the final four outs in the Braves 5-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night, earning his 16th save of the season (in 18 tries) and 155th of his career. Thats one more than John Smoltz. Those 155 saves have come in 172 opportunities. "Ive been a part of a lot of good teams and had a lot of opportunities," Kimbrel said. "Having the chance my first full season to be a closer, that doesnt happen very often and thats why were sitting here talking today, because I had that opportunity a lot of guys dont have. "I feel blessed and grateful for it." Kimbrel had one save in 2010, 46 in 2011, 42 in 2012 and 50 in 2013. "Ive played with him for four years and some change and hes already the franchise leader in saves," teammate Jason Heyward said. "Thats pretty cool." Hayward drove in three runs, two with a home run, and Andrelton Simmons doubled in a run for the Braves. Julio Teheran (6-3) gave up two runs and five hits in seven innings to win his fourth straight decision. Didi Gregorius became the first Diamondback to hit leadoff home runs in consecutive starts. He did it Wednesday in Colorado, sat out Thursdays game, then did it again Friday. Arizonas Brandon McCarthy (1-8) allowed three runs and nine hits in 6 1-3 innings, striking out nine and walking one. McCarthy singled in the tying run in the fifth, his first career RBI. Kimbrel entered the game with two outs and a runner at first in the eighth inning and got his former Atlanta teammate Martin Prado looking to end the inning. With a three-run lead in the ninth, Kimbrel got Aaron Hill and David Peralta to fly out, then Tuffy Gosewich popped out to end it. It was just his third career four-out save. "He hadnt pitched since last Saturday," manager Fredi Gonzalez said, "so we were able to do that." The Braves broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh when, with one out, Heyward drew the only walk McCarthy allowed. Simmons lashed a double to the corner in left, scoring Heyward from first. The Atlanta leadoff hitter used his long arms to connect with a ball that was high and outside and drove it to the opposite field. "It was a pitch I dont expect to get hit at all," McCarthy said. "It was right where I wanted it. It was a hard four-seamer up and away and I wanted to use it to establish something else. He took a good swing at it and hit a home run. I was pretty surprised." They added another run in the ninth on Heywards RBI single. Right fielder Gerardo Parra robbed Simmons of an extra-base hit and probably saved a run with a diving grab in the ninth. Atlanta took the lead in the fifth when Jordan Schafer doubled over third base to start the inning. He scored on Heywards home run to left that made it 2-1. Gregorius, called up from Triple-A Reno on Tuesday, opened the game with a shot just over the fence in right. Teheran didnt allow another hit until Peralta, another recent arrival from the minors, led off the fifth with a ground-rule double. Teheran retired the next two batters, but McCarthy -- 2 for 23 for the season to that point -- slapped a single between shortstop and third to bring Peralta home and tie it 2-2. Ex-Diamondback Justin Upton, greeted with a mix of boos and cheers, struck out three times against McCarthy, then flied out to the fence in right and drove in a run with a bloop single in the ninth. NOTES: In the second day of the amateur draft, Arizona chose OF Matt Railey of North Florida Christian Academy. Hes committed to Florida State. ... Braves RHP Jordan Walden, recovering from a strained left hamstring, began a rehab assignment Thursday night for Triple-A Gwinnett against Columbus, facing four batters in two-thirds inning, giving up a run and two hits. He struck out the first three batters, but the third reached on a wild pitch. The next batter homered. ... On Saturday night, the Braves have RHP Ervin Santana (5-2, 4.10 ERA) facing LHP Wade Miley (3-6, 4.85). . - This win was more the New Jersey Devils style. .ca has you covered for whos in, whos out and what to expect from all 30 teams. . -- Creighton apparently has Villanovas number.INDIANAPOLIS -- A slick surface was all it took for Sebastian Saavedra to win his first IndyCar Series pole. It was also just enough to slip Ryan Hunter-Reay out of the top starting spot for Saturdays Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Saavedra won the pole Friday when Hunter-Reay appeared to drive through a patch of standing water that caused him to spin and crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The accident exiting Turn 14 came on the lap after Hunter-Reay had moved to the provisional pole, and IndyCar penalized him by taking away his two fastest laps for causing a session-ending caution. "We definitely gave that one away," Hunter-Reay said. "Every time through there I almost lost it. I had a few big moments there, but in qualifying youve got to go for it. In the wet, youre always going for it. "Theres a very fine line between stepping over getting that good lap in the wet and throwing it off." Rain showers changed the track conditions for each of the four qualifying sessions, and it picked up moments before the start of the final Fast Six session. IndyCar brought the cars back to pit road because of standing water on the track for a red-flag period that lasted about 20 minutes. Saavedra had just bumped rookie Jack Hawksworth from the pole when Hunter-Reay turned his fast lap. But the IndyCar rule is to strip a driver of his two fastest laps for bringing out a red flag during qualifying, so Hunter-Reay was dropped to third. Hunter-Reay, the only driver to advance to the Fast Six through the first four races of the season, has not started lower than third this year. But his Andretti Autosport team had work to do to repair his bright yellow No. 28, which sustained heavy damage to the right rear of the car. Saavedra, who turned a lap at 1 minute, 23.8822 seconds, will lead the field to the green flag for the first IndyCar road course race at Indianapolis. "I love the rain," Saavedra said. "It was crazy at first because we didnt know what to expect from the track -- if it was going to be wet, if it was going to be dry. The whole session was just weird. It started to rain and went from wet, to dry, to super dry, to super wet. I loved it." The previous road course was reconfigured into a 14-turn, 2.439-mile course to accommodate IndyCar, which is using the race to open the speedway and create buzz in advance of the Indiaanapolis 500. . . Drivers for the first time are running clockwise at the famed speedway, which will run the Grand Prix on Saturday and then revert to the traditional oval Sunday for the opening practice for the May 25 main event. Because the event and the track configuration are new, the field may be even headed into Saturdays race. It appeared even when Saavedra advanced into his first Fast Six of the season, then hung on to win the pole and give IndyCar a relatively inexperienced front row. Saavedra has 41 career starts dating to 2010, but his longtime backer this year brought him to KV Racing, the team that won the Indianapolis 500 last year with Tony Kanaan. Hawksworth, starting on the outside of Saavedra, has three previous starts. The British driver is in his first season with Bryan Herta Autosport. Hawksworth spent last season racing Indy Lights, where he won three times. Meanwhile, a tough qualifying assignment made it a nearly impossible session for Andretti Autosport, which had all five of its cars in the first group. With only six drivers advancing from that group, the odds were stacked against the organization. Indeed, only Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe moved on while Marco Andretti, Carlos Munoz and Franck Montagny were eliminated. "Obviously, Im not very happy," Andretti said. "It was a team decision to go out, we were worried about the wet, but we plateaued too early and the track got better at the end. Weve been on the outside looking in of this hundredth of a second. Im losing sleep over this couple hundredths of a second." Wished good luck for Saturdays race, Andretti, who will start 13th, said: "Thanks, Im going to need it." Mikhail Aleshin, the first Russian in IndyCar history, had been strong through three practices and advanced into the second round of qualifying. But his fastest laps were wiped out when he was hit with an interference penalty. He and Sebastien Bourdais had raced each other hard for many laps two weeks ago at Barber, and Bourdais was eventually penalized for contact. The two drivers disagree wildly on who was to blame. Simon Pagenaud, teammates with the rookie but friendly with Bourdais since their days racing in France, wasnt sure what happened in qualifying. "What I know is him and Sebastien Bourdais are becoming best friends," Pagenaud joked. ' ' '

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