Turner Field was eerily silent when Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez walked to the mound in the fourth inning on Wednesday. It’s been a pretty quiet place for much of the past month as the home team scuffles but, still, this felt different.
Maybe Braves backers were in disbelief because Gonzalez was on his way to take Shelby Miller out of the game. How could it be that Miller, once so reliable, couldn’t even get out of the fourth inning?
The Blue Jays knocked Miller around during a 9-1 interleague victory and extended his career-long losing streak to 14 decisions. Miller fell behind 4-0 in the first inning and the Braves never recovered.
“This is a tough stretch for him,” Braves outfielder Nick Swisher said. “You hate to see somebody go through something like that. Every time he steps on the mound you try to dig in a little deeper because you really want to get him that win. With a lineup like they had tonight, they got some runs early and it was tough to come back.”
The Braves (57-89) won the series opener but couldn’t earn their first winning streak since they won three in a row against the Marlins Aug. 6-8. The Braves have lost 29 of 35 since then. The Blue Jays (83-62) are trying to pull away from the Yankees for the AL East title.
For a long time Miller dominated opposing lineups while his teammates rarely backed him with runs. The 2.37 runs per nine innings the Braves scored in support for Miller over his previous 29 starts were the fewest in the majors. He was winless in his past 21 starts before Wednesday in spite of a 3.51 ERA over that span.
The Braves, last in the majors in runs, still don’t score much—especially when facing an ace such as Blue Jays left-hander David Price. Now Miller also is inconsistent.
The Rockies touched Miller for four runs over 6 2/3 innings on Aug. 26 but he came back to hold the Marlins to one run in seven innings in his next start. After the Nationals got to Miller for six earned runs over 4 1/3 innings on Sept. 5, he responded with three runs allowed to the Mets over six innings in his last start.
Miller’s seesaw continued against the Blue Jays, who lead the majors in runs scored. Miller gave up five runs (four earned), walked two batters and threw just 53 strikes on 83 pitches during his shortest outing of the season.
“It’s got to be tough for a young man to go through what he’s going through,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “If he keeps sticking his note to the grindstone he will be a better person, a better pitcher at the other end of that. It’s hard to tell those guys now and for them to believe you. I’m sure it’s frustrating for him.”
Miller (5-15) struggled from the start. He struck out Josh Donaldson after Ben Revere led off the game with a single but the Blue Jays went on to score four runs in the inning.
Jose Bautista hit a line-drive double to score Revere. Edwin Encarnacion singled and Russell Martin followed with a two-run double, then went to third on an error by shortstop Andrelton Simmons. Ryan Goings hit a sacrifice fly for a 4-0 lead.
With 3 2/3 innings pitched Wednesday Miller is up to 186 this season, surpassing the career-high 183 innings he pitched for the Cardinals in 2014. He said he’s feeling the effects of a long season.
“Not really anything mentally, more of physically you kind of get tired,” Miller said.
The 4-0 deficit was a tough early hole for the Braves against Price (16-5). He hasn’t allowed more than three runs in nine starts for the Blue Jays, who acquired him in a trade with the Tigers on July 30.
“It’s tough as a team and as a group when you go out in the second inning you are already down four-, five-nothing,” Swisher said. “Instead of being on the attack mode you are kind of on your heels a little bit and it’s, ‘All right. Maybe I’ve got to take a couple pitches here. It’s a long inning I can’t just go up and swing at the first pitch.’ And then next thing you know you are down 0-2.
“For us maybe we need to keep that aggressive mentality and not worry about what the score is and just play our game.”
The Braves trimmed Miller’s deficit to 4-1 on Freddie Freeman’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning. Miller stranded one base runner in the second inning and two in the third before he ran into trouble again in the fourth.
Cliff Pennington led off with a walk and went to second on a balk by Miller. Price moved Pennington to third base with a ground out, and then Revere scored him with a sacrifice fly for a 5-1 lead.
A double by Donaldson and a walk by Bautista prompted Gonzalez to remove Miller earlier than he had all season. Miller had two starts of 4 1/3 innings this season.
“It’s just one of those days I wasn’t going to let him go out there and let him get beat up all night long,” Gonzalez said.
Sugar Ray Marimon relived Miller and got out of the inning with no more runs allowed. The Blue Jays scored two runs against Marimon in the fifth for a 7-1 lead that was plenty enough for Price, who limited the Braves to six hits and struck out nine.
The Braves had their best chance to get to Price in the fifth inning. The rally fizzled in part because of bad luck.
Christian Bethancourt led off with a walk and pinch hitter Ryan Lavarnway followed with another walk. Nick Markakis hit a fly ball to shallow right field that second baseman Pennington ran after with his back to the infield.
The ball dropped, and Bethancourt and Lavarnway were caught between bases. Pennington started a double play that retired those two. After Daniel Castro singled, Price struck out Freeman to end the threat.
