SAN DIEGO – The Braves have forgotten how to win in San Diego, and lately also pretty much anywhere but Atlanta. And rookie Williams Perez hasn't won since coming off the disabled list, after not losing before going on it.
So it went late Monday at San Diego, where the Braves and Perez trailed 3-0 after two innings. Another big night for Cameron Maybin wasn’t enough for the Braves in a 5-3 loss to start a seven-game trip and a three-game series.
Matt Kemp and Yonder Alonso homered for the Padres, who’ve beaten the Braves eight consecutive times at Petco Park since August 2012. The Braves have lost 16 of 18 road games going back to the last week before the All-Star break.
Alonso hit a solo shot in the eighth inning off reliever Peter Moylan in the veteran Aussie sidearmer’s second appearance since being called up from Triple-A Gwinnett on Sunday, pushing the lead to 5-2.
Jace Peterson’s RBI single off former Braves closer Craig Kimbrel with one out in the ninth got the Braves within two runs, but Kimbrel struck out Nick Swisher with two on, and Andrelton Simmons flied out to end the game.
“We don’t (quit),” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “We had runners at first and second with nobody out there. (Giving up) is never a question; that’s never a doubt. That’s one of our traits that we have in that locker room. There’s a lot of guys who deserve that credit for keeping us fighting.”
Perez (4-4) allowed seven hits, four runs and four walks in 6 1/3 innings and lost his fourth consecutive start since returning from a five-week stint on the DL for a bruised foot after being struck by a line drive. He’s 0-4 with a 7.30 ERA since the DL, and was 4-0 with a 2.17 ERA in his last 10 games (eight starts) before the DL.
The Padres got four hits and three runs in a five-batter span to start the second inning.
“In the second inning I didn’t pitch well from the first hitter (Justin Upton single),” Perez said through a translator. “After the (second-inning walk to pitcher Colin Rea) I made an adjustment and started pitching better.”
Nick Markakis singled off Kimbrel start the Braves’ ninth and A.J. Pierzynski followed with a four-pitch walk, but Kimbrel struck out Adonis Garcia for the first out of the inning. After Peterson’s single to center, Kimbrel retired the next two batters to limit the damage on the way to converting his 34th save.
“He’s got plenty of stuff to get out of (trouble),” Gonzalez said of the former Braves All-Star closer. “He can get a punchout any time he wants. It’s hard to square him up, 96-97 (mph fastballs) and he’s got a breaking ball. So, yeah, we’ve seen that before. I thought our guys put some pretty good at-bats against him.”
Maybin, in his first game in San Diego since being traded to the Braves in the Kimbrel deal on the eve of opening day, homered for the second consecutive game and had his fifth two-hit game in a row. The Braves trailed 3-0 before his leadoff homer in the fourth, Maybin’s career-high 10th of the season.
“I think this year, from growing as a player, maturing as a hitter with my approach,”Maybin said, “even when I go through a (bad) stretch I still feel like the consistency and quality of at-bats is still there.”
But for the Braves, those type of at-bats — and good pitching — haven’t been nearly as frequent for them on the road.
The Braves are 2-16 with a 5.25 ERA and 45 runs scored in their past 18 road games, compared to 19-11 with a 3.22 ERA and 110 runs in their past 30 home games.
Their road struggles go back further on the West Coast and particularly at San Diego, where the Braves have lost eight in a row since their last win in August 2012, when former Brave Kris Medlen threw eight scoreless innings.
Padres rookie Colin Rea, among the few pitching prospects not traded by San Diego last offseason, made his second major league start and allowed five hits and two runs in 5 2/3 innings. The right-hander gave up only three hits and had a 4-1 lead through five innings, before Maybin singled in the sixth and scored on A.J. Pierzysnki’s two-out single that sent Rea to the showers.
The Padres jumped on Perez for three runs in the second inning, with former Brave Justin Upton getting things started with a leadoff single. Yonder Alonso followed by blistering a ground-rule double that skipped over the left-center fence, and one out later Derek Norris’ chopped infield single drove in the first run of the game.
Will Venable followed with a two-run single, with the ball squirting from Pierzysnki’s mitt on a tag play at the plate after right fielder Nick Markakis’ good throw.
After Perez got out of a two-on, none-outs jam in the third, Maybin homered to lead off the Braves’ fourth and cut the lead to 4-2. Maybin took the first two pitches for strikes and was behind in the count 1-and-2 when Rea threw him a 91-mph fastball that Maybin unloaded upon, driving the ball on a low arc the second seating deck in left field.
Maybin topped his previous career high of nine homers, which he set in 2011 with the Padres – the first of his four seasons with San Diego — and matched Sunday with a 10th-inning walkoff homer to beat the Diamondbacks.
