A breezy and pleasant afternoon at Turner Field, and an opponent the Braves have owned for the past three seasons, would seem a pretty good mix for some Memorial Day weekend fun.
But looks were deceiving during Saturday afternoon’s tilt between the Braves and Rockies.
Mike Minor had never lost to the Rockies (3-0 in four starts) but did on Saturday to Rockies right-hander Juan Nicasio, who had never beaten the Braves (0-3 in four starts) until Saturday.
The Rockies used solo home runs by Michael Cuddyer and Troy Tulowitzki along with an overturned call at home plate to take a 3-1 win and split the series at one game apiece.
The Braves lost for only the third time in 16 games against the Rockies since the start of the 2012 season.
It was a familiar fate for Minor in this way, though: he got aggravation by solo home runs. Solo shots, like those by Cuddyer and Tulowitzi, account for six of the 13 runs he’s given up in five starts this year. All six home runs Minor has allowed have come with nobody on base.
“It was a battle today,” said Minor, now 2-3 with a 3.90 ERA. “I didn’t feel like I had my best stuff. There were a couple defensive plays that kept me in the game and then obviously the solo shots are what killed us.”
Both of his home runs balls came on pitches Minor said he missed in the middle of the plate.
Cuddyer homered for the second straight game in the series after he turned on a 3-0 fastball to left field to give the Rockies a 1-0 lead in the second inning. It was only one swing but it wasn’t a good omen for the Braves, who are 17-3 in games when they score first and 10-18 when their opponent does.
“(At) 3-0, I thought (Cuddyer) might swing, but I was hoping he would get big and pop it up or roll over,” Minor said. “And I threw it up and out, right where he wanted it. Then Tulo we had been pounding him in all day and I missed more middle, and so he got it.”
Tulowitzki, who had been 0-for-9 against Minor before the sixth inning, doubled the Rockies’ lead to 2-0 with his 14th home run of the season, which tied him with Giancarlo Stanton for the National League lead.
Minor gave up a third run after Rome, Ga. native Charlie Culberson led off the seventh with a double and scored on a fielder’s choice two batters later. He was originally called out, but after a four-minute and 14-second video review, umpires determined he’d gotten his right hand in safely ahead of Evan Gattis’ tag on his back.
“From what I saw on the field and what Horacio (Ramirez) was telling me, I was hoping that he didn’t have enough evidence to overturn it,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “But coming back and seeing a different look at it, it was clear and convincing obviously. That was a big run there.”
The Braves managed only two hits in six scoreless innings against Nicasio, a pitcher they had pounded for eight runs in four innings of an 11-3 win last July 30. Nicasio entered the game 0-3 with a 9.82 ERA against the Braves.
“You felt pretty good going in, and we had some guys out there that could handle him,” Gonzalez said. “But he’s 93, 94 (mph) and the ball’s got some pretty good movement to it. He did his job and kept us off-balance and made some pitches when he had to, and we didn’t give any run support to Mike.”
B.J. Upton had two hits for the second straight game Saturday to make him 6-for-19 (.316) with a home run, three runs scored and an RBI this homestand, with five walks and just one strikeout. All this came after his four-strikeout day in St. Louis on May 17.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Upton said. “I’ve just got to keep working and try to keep things as consistent as possible.”
B.J. Upton was right in the middle of both Braves rallies on Saturday. He singled in an eight-pitch at bat in the third inning to help the Braves load the bases on Nicasio. But he was stranded after Justin Upton popped up to end the inning.
He singled again in the eighth, followed by a Freddie Freeman double up the first base line, to set up Justin Upton for a sacrifice fly to cut the Rockies’ lead to 3-1. But Freeman was stranded at third on a strikeout by Gattis.
Jason Heyward put a charge in a Nicasio pitch in the fifth inning but it was caught near the wall by Cuddyer, and he watched his season-long 11-game hit streak come to an end.
