August 6, 2005: Braves’ Tim Hudson wins 100th career game; Andruw Jones hits two home runs

In an outstanding final season at Auburn University,1 which resulted in a 50-17 record and a trip to the 1997 College World Series, Tim Hudson compiled a record of 15-2 with a 2.97 ERA and 165 strikeouts in 118⅓ innings2 and batted .396 with 18 homers, 21 doubles, and 95 RBIs3 – breaking the school record held by Hall of Famer Frank Thomas. Despite his success, he was not selected until the sixth round of the 1997 amateur draft by the Oakland A’s.4

Hudson debuted with Oakland in June 1999 and was 11-2 with a 3.23 ERA in 136⅓ innings as a rookie. The next season he was 20-6 and tied Toronto’s David Wells for the American League lead in wins on his way to finishing second to Pedro Martínez in the AL Cy Young Award voting.

From 2000 to 2003, Hudson teamed with Barry Zito and Mark Mulder to form the nucleus of a formidable pitching staff that led the A’s to three AL West titles and four consecutive American League Division Series appearances.5 He won four games during Oakland’s AL-record 20-game winning streak in 2002.

With the 30-year-old Hudson set to become a free agent after the 2005 season and knowing they could not afford to keep him, the Oakland A’s traded Hudson to the Atlanta Braves for three younger players on December 16, 2004.6 He left Oakland with a career record of 92-39 and a 3.30 ERA in 183 starts.

After winning two games for Atlanta in April, Hudson picked up four more victories in six starts in May to close in on his 100th career win but was 0-2 with a 7.90 ERA in three starts in June before going on the disabled list.

He won his first game back on July 16 with six shutout innings against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium to get within one of the milestone but failed in his next three starts.

Hudson’s next opportunity was in a matchup of division leaders on a muggy Saturday afternoon in St. Louis against a hard-hitting Cardinals lineup that would finish third in the NL in runs scored. Hudson caught a break: St. Louis veterans Larry Walker and Reggie Sanders – who would combine for 36 homers – and second-year catcher Yadier Molina were out of the lineup with injuries.

Atlanta was 63-47 with a 4½-game lead over the Washington Nationals in the NL East. After beating Atlanta’s John Smoltz in the series opener, St. Louis was 69-40 and led the second-place Houston Astros by 10 games in the NL Central.

A crowd of 48,565 showed up to watch Hudson, with a record of 7-6 and a 3.57 ERA in 18 starts, square off against former Braves right-hander Jason Marquis, who was 9-9 with a 4.00 ERA. Marquis had a 2.80 ERA in five starts in July but lost three of four decisions. In his first start in August, he surrendered six earned runs in six innings in a loss to the Florida Marlins. The Cardinals were just 10-12 in Marquis’ 22 starts, but 59-28 otherwise.7

After Marquis set down Atlanta on nine pitches to start the game, St. Louis took the lead against Hudson. With one out, rookie left fielder John Rodríguez singled and advanced to second when Hudson issued his only walk of the game, to Albert Pujols. Jim Edmonds forced Pujols at second with a grounder to second as Rodriguez moved to third. Mark Grudzielanek followed with a line-drive single to center to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

For the next three innings, both Hudson and Marquis were dominant. After Marquis used nine pitches to set the Braves down in order in the top of the second, Hudson needed just four in the bottom of the frame. After another perfect frame by Marquis, Hudson used eight pitches for a one-two-three third inning. In the fourth, Marquis retired the Braves in order again. Hudson ran his streak to eight consecutive Cardinals retired by getting Edmonds on a fly to center field to start the bottom of the fourth. The streak ended with a double by Grudzielanek but Hudson got John Mabry and Abraham Núñez to ground out to keep the score 1-0.  

After retiring the first 12 Braves hitters, Marquis ran into trouble in the fifth. Andruw Jones led off with a home run to deep left. One out later, 21-year-old Braves rookie Jeff Francoeur,  a Georgia native hitting .406 since his major-league debut on July 7, singled to left. After Brian McCann flied to right for the second out, a wild pitch moved Francoeur to second. With the pitcher Hudson on deck, Wilson Betemit, filling in at third base for the injured Chipper Jones, laced a double to right field to score Francoeur and give Atlanta a 2-1 lead.

Atlanta took control of the game in the sixth. Rafael Furcal led off with a walk and was singled to third by Kelly Johnson; Marcus Giles walked to load the bases and bring Jones to the plate. After starting the season hitting just .182 in his first 21 games – which included a career-worst 0-for-28 stretch8 – the Atlanta center fielder was now batting .273 with 34 homers and 83 RBIs.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa visited the mound9 to discuss how to pitch to the Braves slugger, but on Marquis’ second pitch, Jones launched a grand slam to deep left to put the Braves up 6-1.

“He struck me out on the first at-bat with a slider. And I went up there looking for it the next time when I hit the first home run,” said Jones. “I was looking for a slider with the bases loaded and he threw me a fastball.”10

Marquis was replaced by Brad Thompson, who retired the next three Braves.

Staked to a big lead, Hudson worked around singles by Pujols and Grudzielanek in the sixth and coaxed three groundouts for a perfect seventh inning. He ended his outing having allowed one run on six hits and a walk while striking out four.

Kyle Farnsworth took over for Hudson in the eighth and hit Rodriguez with his first pitch. Pujols singled him to third but was doubled off first on Edmonds’ fly to short right field.11 Grudzielanek struck out to end the inning.

Atlanta tacked on two runs in the ninth against Cardinals reliever Ray King. With one out Betemit singled and moved to second on a pinch hit by 46-year-old Julio Franco.12

Pete Orr came off the bench to run for Franco. Furcal doubled to left to plate Betemit and advance Orr to third. One out later, Giles’ single off right-hander Cal Eldred, in the final season of his 14-year major league career, drove in the Braves’ final run.

Although they led 8-1, Atlanta skipper Bobby Cox opted to bring in closer Chris Reitsma, who had earned 8 saves and two wins in his last 10 appearances.13 He allowed a single to Mabry to start the Cardinals’ final at-bat before retiring the next three batters to close out Hudson’s milestone victory.

Regarding his win, Hudson said, “I’m happy about it. It’s a milestone, and I hope there are more to come. It’s one of the first milestones a starting pitcher can come across. It’s nice to get it and get it out of the way.”14

Although it was not the main pitch he used during the game, Hudson had rediscovered his split-finger fastball while warming up before the game. “I’ve been afraid to use it, but all of a sudden there it was,” he said. “I haven’t had a good one in three years, but it was there today. I only threw it about 10 times, but it was great to have it back.”15

Hudson remained with Atlanta through the 2013 season – missing most of 2009 while recovering from Tommy John surgery, and the final two months of 2013 with a broken ankle16 – and finished with a 113-72 record and a 3.56 ERA in 243 starts in a Braves uniform.

Hudson finished his career with two seasons with the San Francisco Giants, compiling a 17-22 record and earning a 2014 World Series ring. He ended his major-league career with a record of 222-133 and a 3.49 ERA.

After retiring in 2015, Hudson moved his wife and three children back to Auburn, Alabama, where he served as the pitching coach at his alma mater from 2020 to 2022 and helped the Tigers to the 2022 College World Series, where they were eliminated by conference rival Arkansas.

During his time as the Tigers pitching coach, Hudson’s wife, Kim, encouraged him to finish his college degree17 and in 2021 he received a degree in interdisciplinary studies with emphases on health promotion and philanthropy studies.18

Author’s Note

The author attended this game with a friend. They had good seats above the Braves dugout and made the six-hour drive home after the game.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bill Marston and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the references cited in the Notes, the author consulted data from Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN200508060.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2005/B08060SLN2005.htm

Photo credit: Tim Hudson, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Hudson was one of nine finalists – including future major leaguers Troy Glaus, Lance Berkman, Pat Burrell, J.D. Drew, Adam Kennedy, Matt Anderson, and Brandon Larson – for the 1997 Golden Spikes Award. The award, given to the top college player, was won by Florida State’s Drew.

2“Tim Hudson,” AuburnTigers.com, accessed June 15, 2024, https://auburntigers.com/sports/baseball/roster/tim-hudson/13028.

3 Hudson became the first Southeastern Conference player to earn First Team all-conference honors at two positions in the same season. Patrick Pinak, “Tim Hudson Devastated Hitters for Years, But Where Is He Now,” February 9, 2021, https://fanbuzz.com/college-football/sec/auburn/tim-hudson-auburn-baseball.

4 Oakland had previously selected Hudson in the 35th round of the June 1994 amateur draft from Chattahoochee Valley Community College. After two years there – which included a AJCCC Division II championship – he transferred to Auburn for the 1996 and 1997 seasons. Pinak.

5 The A’s lost each best-of-five series in the final game. Hudson started six games and was 1-2 with a 3.44 ERA in 34 innings.

6 The Braves sent Juan Cruz, Dan Meyer, and Charles Thomas to the A’s in exchange for Hudson.

7 Four of the Cardinals’ losses were by scores of 2-0, 3-1, 2-1, and 2-1 in which Marquis pitched at least seven innings.

8 Joe Strauss, “Marquis Can’t Cool Jones,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 7, 2005: F9.

9 Derrek Goold, “A. Jones Leads Braves’ Charge,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 7, 2005: F9.

10 Associated Press, “Hudson’s Pitching, Andruw’s Slugging Pace Braves,” Newnan (Georgia) Times-Herald, August 7, 2005: 6.

11 Associated Press, “100 Grand,” Columbus (Georgia) Ledger-Enquirer, August 7, 2005: D6.

12 Franco turned 47 years old 17 days later, on August 23.

13 Reitsma blew his next three save opportunities and by the end of August had lost his closer role to Kyle Farnsworth, who had been acquired from Detroit on July 31.

14 Associated Press, “100 Grand.”

15 Associated Press, “100 Grand.”

16 “Hudson Injures Ankle Covering First,” YouTube video (MLB.com), accessed October 22, 2023,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNHL9qdtDtI.

17 Jeff Shearer, “Baseball Legend Tim Hudson Graduates From Auburn University,” Auburn Tigers, December 17, 2021, https://auburntigers.com/news/2021/12/17/baseball-legend-tim-hudson-graduates-from-auburn-university.

18 Shearer.