Brandon Beachy is barely less than a month shy of the anniversary of his major league debut with the Braves, still a spring chicken. But next to Wade Miley and the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday night, he looked nothing short of chiseled veteran.
Beachy dominated the Diamondbacks for six innings in an 8-1 win and put a damper on Miley’s major league debut.
Dan Uggla did his part by hitting a two-run homer off Miley in the first inning on his way to a two-homer game, his second of this homestand. Uggla and Freddie Freeman hit back-to-back homers in the seventh to fuel the blowout.
Beachy gave up four hits, struck out seven and walked one to move to 6-2 on the season. Beachy was the one giving the ovation at the end of his outing, though, acknowledging center fielder Michael Bourn, who slammed into the wall to save Beachy a run in the sixth inning with an Andruw Jones-like catch.
“It was great, dealing with the wall like that, running full speed,” Beachy said. “I can see why the guy has won a gold glove. He’s probably got more in his future.”
Beachy got in on the offense with his first major league RBI on a single in the second. Martin Prado returned to the lineup after a day off with a three-hit game that included two doubles. And Uggla hit his fourth and fifth home runs of this homestand, his 28th and 29th of the season.
Uggla already is the only second baseman in major league history with four seasons of 30 or more homers, and he did it consecutively. Now he’s one home run shy of making it five seasons with 30 or more homers.
Uggla, who was hitting .173 on July 5, has used a 33-game hitting streak and a recent power surge to redefine his season.
“That’s why you play the full season,” Uggla said, “whether it’s going bad or it’s going good you’ve got to stay humble, stay positive and keep going in the right direction. Stick with your routine and more times than not if you stay strong mentally, you’re going to be able to battle back and help your team out.”
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez entered Saturday’s game wanting to rest either Eric O’Flaherty, Jonny Venters or Craig Kimbrel. He got to rest all three with such a big cushion.
Miley grew up a Braves fan in Loranger, La. They didn’t greet him very kindly Saturday night. Uggla sent Miley’s 15th major league pitch into the left-field seats for a two-run homer to give the Braves a 3-1 lead in the first inning.
Chipper Jones chased Miley in the fifth with a run-scoring single to make the score 4-1. Miley was charged with five runs in four innings pitching in place of the injured Jason Marquis. Marquis, a former Braves player who was traded from Washington to Arizona at the deadline, made only three starts with Arizona before he was lost for the season with a broken leg.
The Braves assured themselves of a second consecutive series victory in this critical homestand and an eight-game cushion in the wild-card standings over the Giants. They’ve won five of the past six games against the Giants and Diamondbacks, trying to distance themselves from both NL West contenders in the wild-card race.
“This is the run we’ve been looking for,” Uggla said. “the offense has been rolling, we’re getting good starts out of our pitchers. The whole team is doing what we need to do to win games.”
Beachy made his major league debut in Citizens Bank Park on Sept. 20 with only a few hours’ notice. So approaching this September, he’s that much more prepared. His only blemish came on a two-out RBI double by Miguel Montero in the first inning.
“He did a terrific job,” Gonzalez said. “He gave us a heck of an outing. Our offense kept plugging away, kept putting numbers up.”
After that hit, Beachy retired the next 12 in a row before Montero drew a walk with two outs in the sixth. Paul Goldschmidt thought he had an extra-base hit to follow, but Bourn robbed him at the wall.
“It was one of those games at decision time do you run him back out there one more inning,” Gonzalez said. “We talked it through. That’s what he’s giving you, not easy decisions, to pinch hit or let him go back out there. That’s how well he’s pitching right now.”
