You knew the day was going to be wacky when the umpires held up the Braves-Pirates game up for four minutes for the grounds crew to redraw a crooked set of batter’s boxes.
Once they got that straight, things got weirder. The all-or-nothing Braves actually resorted to small ball, scoring their first two runs on four straight singles.
The chameleon act was interesting to see but wouldn’t hold up, as the Pirates scratched out a run each in the seventh and eighth innings of their own for a 4-2 win.
“There goes that theory about on-base (percentage),” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “You’ve got to drive them in. What do we have 15 baserunners and only got two runs.”
The suddenly slumping Braves lost for the fourth time in five games after starting the season 12-1. The Braves (13-5), who came into the week on a 10-game winning streak, finished it on a three-game losing streak. They dropped their first series of the season, 1-3 to the Pirates, and headed for more cold weather in Colorado, where snow is predicted on both Monday and Tuesday.
The Braves rolled up eight hits, only one for extra bases on Evan Gattis’ double, and drew seven walks, but went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10. Twice Justin Upton hit into his strike-‘em-out, throw-‘em-out double plays, and B.J. Upton bounced into a double play with runners on first and second in the sixth inning.
The Braves are 3-for-24 with runners in scoring position in their past five games.
“We came out and did what we didn’t want to do, we swung at some pitches out of the zone and even the hits that we got, we shortened those innings couple times,” Justin Upton said. “We just didn’t piece together the hits.”
The Pirates meanwhile got the big hit from Clint Barmes, the last everyday shortstop in the majors to drive in a run. He singled off Kris Medlen with two outs in the sixth to drive in the go-ahead run on a four-hopper up the middle. He came into the game with an .093 batting average and zero RBIs but went 2-for-3 with his first two RBIs.
“I thought I made a pretty good pitch,” Medlen said. “Broken bat, a little infield single. That’s just the game we play.”
Medlen was equally if not more frustrated about a bunt failure in the sixth inning, thwarting a chance to get two runners into scoring position with one out.
“I’ve got to get that bunt down,” Medlen said. “There was nobody in the park more (ticked) than me.”
After scoring only seven runs in their previous four games – six in their only win – the Braves took a different tack from their homer-or-bust mode at the plate. Gonzalez rested a couple of his struggling boppers (Jason Heyward and Dan Uggla) and got some run-manufacturing from Johnson & Johnson. Chris Johnson and Reed Johnson set the table in the second and Gerald Laird and Andrelton Simmons drove them home.
That 2-0 lead wouldn’t last an inning though as the Pirates got three straight hits off Medlen. Russell Martin’s double to left center was the big blow of the inning and Barmes plated another run on a soft liner over second base. The Pirates added some insurance after loading the bases in the seventh and scoring on a Luis Avilan wild pitch.
It took two innings and 55 pitches before Medlen got comfortable on the mound. He settled back in to go six innings, though, allowing three earned runs for a quality start. Medlen struck out six and walked one.
He said the crooked batters box and some of his own mechanical issues affected him early.
“Even in the pens between the starts, I have been pulling off a lot,” Medlen said. “I have been throwing pitches with (pitching coach) Roger (McDowell) standing right next to me not letting me pull off. I just addressed the situation and made the adjustments I needed to.”
The Braves did some of their best defensive work of the year behind Medlen. Simmons tracked down a foul ball going to his knees to make the over the shoulder back-handed catch on Russell Martin’s pop-up in the fourth. Two innings later Justin Upton leapt into the left field wall, spikes into the padding like an Andruw Jones Spiderman special, to rob Pedro Alvarez of extra bases.
