There’s no good way for a five-game winning streak to end, but the latest one concluded bitterly for the Braves on Sunday.
Chipper Jones tried to take first base twice on what he thought was a two-out walk in the ninth inning and was called out on strikes in a 5-4 loss to the Orioles. He never looked back at rookie home plate umpire Mark Ripperger, but Jones made his feelings clear afterward.
“I didn’t say a word after the last pitch,” Jones said. “I know they are balls. I’ve been here 18 years, [and] I know what balls and strikes are. I know when guys are trying to pitch around me. He can stare me down all he wants; he made two bad calls.”
Jones has called out umpires before and taken his fines, something he said he was prepared to do again. Manager Fredi Gonzalez might be writing a check as well.
“I came back in here and looked at them on video; I thought they were awful,” Gonzalez said. “I thought the balls were away, not even close. It’s hard to lose a game on those two balls like that.”
Newly named All-Star catcher Brian McCann was left standing on deck, and the Braves were left to bear the brunt of a Mark Reynolds' two-run homer. Reynolds hit his third home run in two games against the Braves on a two-out, two-run blast deep into the left-field bleachers off reliever Scott Proctor.
Brandon Beachy lasted only five innings on 82 pitches before being lifted for a pinch-hitter, and Gonzalez turned to some of his little-used relievers to get to the late innings. Proctor, who had allowed seven hits in his previous 7 2/3 innings, was victimized on a 95-mph fastball.
“We can’t keep running the same guys out there all the time,” Gonzalez said. “Shoot, Scotty has done a heck of a job for us. Everything was in place for us to get through that seventh inning. I thought we had the right guy in there.”
Reynolds’ swing spoiled a four-run, sixth-inning rally for the Braves, who used a two-run single by Eric Hinske to take the lead 4-3. The Braves had loaded the bases for the second time in the game, and, unlike the fifth inning, when they got no runs out of it, cashed in all three.
Beachy had won his first two starts since coming off the disabled list from an oblique injury. On Sunday, he had to pitch from behind for the first time since he's come back.
His bugaboo was allowing a home run to the pitcher Zach Britton, who became the first Orioles pitcher to homer in a game since Marietta’s Kris Benson did it in2006 against the Mets.
Britton went 2-for-3, including an infield hit off Beachy. He’s now 5-for-8 with a double, his first career homer and two RBIs in interleague play.
“It turns out if I can get a pitcher out we win the game today,” Beachy said.
That’s the kind of day it was for the Braves. McCann came within inches of tying the game with a home run to right field in the seventh, but was thrown out at second base, settling for a long single.
He was left with a bat in his hand at the end of the game and almost as displeased as Jones about the balls and strikes call, though not nearly as vocal.
“I’ve said it time and time again, the officiating in this league is substandard for the most part,” Jones said. “I actually apologized to [Ripperger] after the 3-1 pitch, I said, ‘I’m sorry. That pitch was right where the 2-1 pitch was and it was called a ball.’ And he said that ball got plate.
"I knew that I was dealing with a larger than average strike zone at that point.”
