Braves halt Yankees' 10-game winning streak

NEW YORK -- Atlanta Braves starter Tim Hudson calls them "flashes of greatness," the glimpses of five-tool talent right fielder Jason Heyward shows at times.

On Tuesday night, the 22-year-old Heyward showed enough of them to overcome a baserunning gaffe and finally put an end to the New York Yankees' recent display of greatness.

Heyward helped the Braves end the Yankees' 10-game winning streak with a 4-3 victory at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.

Heyward picked up two hits, scored a run, cost his team one on the bases, took one from the Yankees in the field, and drove in the eventual winning run.

"He shows it. He shows flashes of greatness every now and again," Hudson said. "He shows you what he can do."

Hudson (5-3) gave up three runs on four hits in five innings, but joked that he had "great placement" on a single he gave up to Nick Swisher in the fifth, when Heyward's bullet throw home cut down Mark Teixeira to end the inning.

Chad Durbin was the first of four relievers to pitch a scoreless inning, as the Atlanta bullpen allowed just one hit and was helped by another defensive play to cut down a run at the plate in the seventh.

Craig Kimbrel earned his 20th save with a perfect ninth against the top of the Yankees' order.

"I thought today our bullpen bent a little bit, but didn't break and showed some signs of the bullpen of last year," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "It's tough to hold a one-run lead in this ballpark against that lineup and we did it."

The victory marked just the second in the Braves' last 10 games while ending the Yankees' impressive winning streak, which all came against NL East foes.

"Well, I mean, this is a tough loss ..." Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "We've been playing pretty well. Still played a pretty decent game tonight."

As for the end of the Yankees' longest win streak since May 2005 making this defeat particularly painful, Girardi said, "I don't like any of them."

Swisher, who returned after missing two games with a bruised left thigh, had two hits and two RBIs. Hiroki Kuroda (6-7) allowed four runs on six hits in seven innings.

Trailing 4-3, the Yankees got the tying run to third with one out in the bottom of the seventh against reliever Jonny Venters, but Atlanta cut down a run at the plate for the second time in three innings.

Teixeira grounded to third baseman Chipper Jones, who picked it up on a tough short-hop and fired home in time to get Curtis Granderson, who had singled to lead off the inning.

Even during their winning streak, the Yankees had struggled with runners in scoring position, and were 2-for-11 Tuesday, but Girardi said he wasn't concerned.

"I don't get too caught up in it," he said. "I thought our at-bats were pretty good. We hit some line-outs. Hit some balls hard."

Heyward, who tripled in the first to give him hits in 12 of his last 15 games, hit a two-out single in the sixth to give the Braves a 4-3 lead. The hit drove in Brian McCann, who doubled to start the sixth.

An inning after costing his team a run on the base paths -- when he made the last out at third before Jones could cross the plate on a single -- Heyward took one from the Yankees. His throw after fielding Swisher's single on one hop nailed Teixeira at the plate to end the fifth.

"Just wanted to put myself in position to make the best throw possible," Heyward said. "I got a good hop, almost as perfect as it could have went."

The Yankees tied the score, 3-3, in the bottom of the fourth against Hudson, when Raul Ibanez reached on first baseman Freddie Freeman's error, and scored on a two-out double by Russell Martin.

Kuroda had allowed just four runs in three starts this month, but he struggled in the Braves' two-run fourth before Heyward's base-running blunder bailed him out. Thanks to two hits and a pair of walks, the Braves had tied the game 2-2 and loaded the bases with two outs for Andrelton Simmons. Simmons' single to center scored Freeman easily, but Jones had not yet crossed the plate before center fielder Granderson's throw easily nailed Heyward at third for the final out, leaving the Braves with a 3-2 lead.

Heyward said his manager and third-base coach told him he did the right thing in forcing the throw to third, but he added, that he would have to "next time, maybe, keep my eye on it. See where the throw goes and pull up."

With the Braves trailing 2-0, Heyward's legs helped instead of hurt, as he tripled to lead off the third and scored on Simmons' groundout to make it 2-1.

Swisher gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the second inning, with a two-run double, the third of New York's three consecutive hits.

NOTES: New York right-hander Michael Pineda, who underwent season-ending surgery on his right shoulder on May 1, was at Yankee Stadium the past couple of days and was seen by doctors, manager Joe Girardi said. "Everything is going great," Girardi said. "It's good to see him not in a sling and walking around freely." ... Teixeira took a ball off his left heel on Heyward's single in the sixth, and was checked briefly, but remained in the game and said he was fine. ... Freeman returned to the lineup after missing four games in a row with a bruised left index finger. ... Atlanta right-hander Brandon Beachy is scheduled to visit Dr. James Andrews on Wednesday to see whether he needs Tommy John surgery after a MRI earlier in the week revealed he has a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament.