Braves hitters have struggled to produce with runners on base early in the season. They could hardly get on base for four innings Sunday against Padres right-hander Trevor Cahill.
Then Brandon Phillips singled with one out in the fifth, Adonis Garcia followed with a walk and Tyler Flowers hit a single that scored both of them. The Braves kept adding runs from there until they had a 9-2 victory at SunTrust Park.
“Trevor wasn’t making any mistakes the first few innings,” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “That was big hit for us. Once he did that, the floodgates kind of opened for us. It took us a little, but better late than never.”
That’s the way it’s gone for Braves hitters lately. During the eight-game road trip they were hitting for average, bopping home runs and getting on base at a decent clip but ranked near the bottom of the league in runs scored.
Now the Braves are doing all of that while also producing with runners on base, and the offense is humming.
The Braves were 4-for-9 with runners in scoring position on Sunday to improve to 9-for-22 in that situation in three games against the Padres. The Braves were 13-for-63 (.206) with runners in scoring position over the first eight games.
“We will be talking about this probably more than once, those type of things,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s just baseball. You just have to stay the course and handle it and just keep putting up good at-bats, keep grinding through at-bats and eventually we are going to pierce some gaps with guys on (base). It’s going to happen (because) they guys are too good of hitters.”
The Braves are getting production from several hitters.
After Flowers got the scoring started for the Braves, Phillips hit a two-run single in the sixth inning and an RBI single in the eighth. He was 2-for-2 with runners in scoring position on Sunday after he was 1-for-11 over his first nine games.
Braves right fielder Nick Markakis knocked an RBI double in the eighth inning. He’s hit safely in nine straight games and, since going 0-for-4 on opening day, is 11-for-33 with six RBI.
Inciarte’s home run was his fourth in the last three games, more than he hit in 131 games last season. The homer he hit in the seventh was a line drive to right-center field and also had a walk and an infield single in the game.
“That’s the kind of player I am,” Inciarte said. “I’ve got to be the one who is going to be on the base because I’m not the one who is going to be driving in runs all the time. I’ve got good hitters behind me and if I can get on base we are going to score a lot of runs.”
