The Braves’ hitting woes with runners in scoring position were glaringly apparent when they stranded 20 runners on base in a pair of one-run losses Thursday and Friday, including two runners left on base in an inning six times Friday in a 2-1 defeat against the Giants.
They were 3-for-27 with runners in scoring position during a season-high four-game losing skid, which sunk the Braves’ RISP average to .212 before Saturday. That ranked 27th in the majors ahead of only the last-place Cubs (.200) and Astros (.184) and the fourth-place Padres (.183), teams that were nine, seven and four games under .500, respectively.
“We haven’t gotten a whole lot of hits with runners in scoring position, that’s evident to us,” said Braves leadoff man Jason Heyward, who had three hits Friday, two to start inning and another with one out, and was left on base every time. “It’s no secret. But at the same time, I feel like we’ve lined out, we’ve hit a ball hard right at people — we haven’t just given up at-bats in those situations, basically.”
Heyward cited the game-ending at-bat Friday by Justin Upton, who fouled off a couple of two-strike sliders before taking a borderline fastball for a called third strike with two on base.
“Like, Justin’s right there with the long at-bat and the pitch (is) whatever you want to say, it’s still a good AB,” Heyward said. “Again, I like our odds the more chances we have in those situations.”
That was the general consensus among the Braves, that as bad as the numbers say they’ve been with runners in scoring position, they believe it’s only a matter of time before they start to produce in those situations. But they also didn’t try to downplay the importance of hitting with runners in scoring position or dismiss their early season ineptitude in those situations.
The Braves (17-11) still had the third-best record in the NL before Saturday, but their hitters know that’s been primarily because of a majors-leading 2.66 ERA. As for the lineup, if it’s not producing home runs, most nights it’s generally not produced many, if any, runs. The Braves were sixth in the majors in home runs with 32 before Saturday, but only 28th in runs with 97.
“Our pitchers are pitching great, we just didn’t help them out the last four games,” said first baseman Freddie Freeman, who again ranked among league leaders with a .391 average (9-for-23) with runners in scoring position before Saturday, but was one of only three Braves hitting higher than .250 in those situations, along with Evan Gattis (4-for-11) and Dan Uggla (5-for-18).
Among other lineup regulars: B.J. Upton was 2-for-19 with six strikeouts with runners in scoring position, Chris Johnson was 2-for-18 with six strikeouts, Andrelton Simmons was 2-for-14, and Justin Upton was 6-for-28 (.218) with 13 strikeouts, albeit also with six walks and five homers in those situations.
The Braves’ bad statistics with runners in scoring position become a lot worse with two outs added to the equation. Their .133 average (13-for-98) with RISP and two outs ranked 29th in the majors ahead of only Houston (.130) before Saturday, and that was despite having the individual NL leader in that category in Freeman, who was 5-for-8 in those situations after driving in the team’s only run Friday with a two-out single in the fifth inning (he walked with two out and a runner at second in the ninth).
Other than Freeman, the rest of the Braves were a combined 8-for-90 (.089) with 26 strikeouts with runners in scoring position and two outs, including Uggla’s 1-for-10 and Johnson’s 1-for-11. Justin Upton was 2-for-17 with two homers, five walks and nine strikeouts in those situations.
“It’s frustrating right now, us not being able to help (the pitchers) out at all,” Johnson said after Friday’s loss. “We left some guys on base; I left some guys on base. We’re just in one of those ruts where we’ve got to come up with that big hit. I think we just need one to get us going. We all feel bad that we can’t help our pitching staff out. They’re going out there giving up one run, two runs, and getting beat. We should win those games. But we’ll get going.”
Heyward said hitting with runners in scoring position was important, both during the regular season and particularly the postseason, when teams face top-notch pitching and can’t rely on home runs to carry the offense.
“You want to get hits with guys in scoring position,” Heyward said. “I feel like if we’re able to do that, more so with less than two outs, it takes a lot of pressure off the next person.”
