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Monday, April 24, 2006
Koskie’s homer dooms Davies
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Milwaukee — The way the Braves lineup is scuffling, pitcher Kyle Davies needed a nearly flawless performance Monday night to have much chance.
And he had one going until the seventh inning, when Corey Koskie broke a tie with a two-run homer that sent the Brewers to a 3-2 win in the series opener at Miller Park.
“I made one bad pitch,” Davies said, “and it left the ballpark.”
Davies had allowed only two hits and one run until the seventh, when Prince Fielder hit a leadoff single and Koskie blasted a 1-0 fastball to the right-field second deck. They were his first RBIs of the season in his 51st at-bat.
It was supposed to be a fastball away, but it came back over the middle.
“I think he thought Koskie was trying to bunt,” said Braves manager Bobby Cox, who based that on his belief that Davies was pitching too well to that point to leave a pitch over the middle of the plate.
But Davies said that wasn’t the case. He just made a bad pitch.
With how the Braves are hitting, one bad pitch can be too much to overcome.
The couldn’t put anything together against Brewers starter Chris Capuano, who allowed three hits and one run with six strikeouts in seven innings.
After he left, the Braves loaded the bases with none out in the eighth on a hit, walk and error. But the Braves squandered the opportunity, getting only one run when Matt Diaz grounded into a double play. Andruw Jones grounded out.
“It’s no secret that our pitching started a little slow,” said Marcus Giles, who had a triple in his return to the lineup after missing three games with a finger injury. “Now our offense has slowed up.”
The Braves had five hits Monday to drag their anemic average to .186 in their past eight games, with three runs or fewer in seven of those. This after they hit .289 in their first 11 games and scored four or more runs in each.
They hope the return of Chipper Jones from the disabled list today will spark a lineup that’s gone stagnant. “Yeah, get some power in there,” Cox said.
Even Andruw Jones has cooled to 1-for-11 with six strikeouts in three games.
The Braves are confident their center fielder won’t slump for long. The same can’t be said for right fielder Jeff Francoeur, whose alarming tailspin has continued nearly unabated since late August.
He was 0-for-4 Monday to reduce his average to .184 and his road average to .096, the worst in the major leagues.
After hitting .339 with 12 homers in his first 50 big league games, he’s hit .196 with five homers in his past 39 games.
The Braves scored first after Giles’ leadoff triple in the third inning. Wilson Betemit bounced out to Capuano before Diaz grounded to shortstop J.J. Hardy and Giles took off for home. He slid safely under the high throw.
The Brewers didn’t advance a runner past first until Geoff Jenkins’ leadoff walk in the fourth. Fielder singled to put runners on the corners with one out.
The Braves bungled a play to let in the tying run. Fielder isn’t as huge as his dad Cecil, the former Tigers slugger. But he’s close, listed at 260 pounds.
On a 3-2 pitch to Koskie, Fielder took off for second, his only chance of avoiding a double play if Koskie hit a grounder. Koskie struck out on the pitch and catcher Todd Pratt came up firing for a potential inning-ending double play.
He made a strong throw in plenty of time to nail Fielder, but shortstop Wilson Betemit misread the play and came up to catch the ball in front of the base.
Betemit still might have had an out at home, but bobbled the exchange and Jenkins scored easily, the first steal of home by a Brewer since Scott Podsednik in 2003.
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