WASHINGTON -- Just when the Braves were poised to see what their new center fielder Michael Bourn could do in his debut Monday night, the last center fielder they traded for upstaged him.
Washington's Rick Ankiel, who made his own debut as a newly acquired Braves center fielder a year ago, hit two home runs off a struggling Jair Jurrjens in a 5-3 win by the Nationals.
The Braves got two solo home runs from Dan Uggla, but still struggled to hit with runners on base in the loss. After David Ross hit into a double play with the bases loaded in the fourth inning, in a 2-1 game, Ankiel homered in the top of the fifth to give the Nationals a two-run cushion and all the momentum.
“If I get a hit there, we score some more runs; we win that game. ... When I ground into a double play it kind of sets the tone back to their side, and then Rick comes up and hits a homer,” Ross said.
It was a deflating way to lose on a night when the Braves were eager to benefit from Bourn’s arrival from Houston and something Braves general manager Frank Wren had called their “waterbug offense.”
Fredi Gonzalez batted Jurrjens, the first time an Atlanta Braves starter has hit higher than ninth, and put speedy Jose Constanza in the ninth spot. He was trying to give the Braves two leadoff hitters of sorts and more RBI opportunities for the meat of the order.
Despite the best-intentioned tinkering from the manager and general manager in the last 24 hours, the Braves scored only one run in six innings against Livan Hernandez. They scored all three on solo homers, including one by Ross, and hit into three double plays.
“I’d rather have a big hit than a meaningless homer,” Ross said.
The Braves have collected 23 hits in back-to-back losses, but only four runs.
They needed to get runners on in front of Uggla, who hit a pair of solo home runs for his 21st and 22nd of the year. He used the long ball to extend his career-best hitting streak to 23 games, and includes 10 home runs.
Freddie Freeman extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a single in the fourth inning.
“The whole getting-them-in part has been kind of tough lately,” Uggla said. “But that’s baseball and it happens. You’ve got to grind through it and keep working and keep staying positive, and keep getting those runners in scoring position because it’s not going to be like that forever.”
Bourn singled on his second pitch as a Brave and finished 1-for-4.
Ankiel went 2-for-4. He hit a homer to lead off the game and another in the second deck in right field. He previously had three home runs for the Nationals.
The loss snapped a streak of seven consecutive wins for the Braves behind Jurrjens. He’s winless in each of his four starts coming out of the All-Star break, going 0-1 with a 6.26 ERA including 11 runs in 10 innings in two starts against the Nationals. He was 12-3 with a 1.87 ERA in the first half on his way to making his first All-Star team.
Jurrjens gave up five runs on seven hits in five innings.
“My mechanics aren’t really where they’re supposed to be right now,” Jurrjens said. “[I] just need to go back and try to look at old films early in the season and try to see what I’ve changed and try to correct it.”
