CINCINNATI – After stranding 13 runners in a 3-1, 12-inning win Friday against the Reds, the Braves didn't mount a scoring threat against them until the seventh inning Saturday. And they failed to cash in that one.
The Braves mustered just three hits and couldn’t convert after Andrelton Simmons’ seventh-inning leadoff double, and so pitcher Ervin Santana’s strong performance went unrewarded in a 1-0 loss to the Reds at Great American Ball Park. It was only the 17th 1-0 game in the 12-year history of the majors’ most hitter-friendly stadium.
“This is a ballpark that’s not known for low-scoring games, and we’ve had two here in the last couple of days,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “That’s how good the pitching’s been on both sides.”
And how bad the Braves have been with runners in scoring position — 1-for-12 the past two nights.
The game was delayed by rain for 1 hour, 56 minutes before the first pitch, but the lengthy delay had no adverse effect on either starting pitcher.
Reds starter Mike Leake (10-11) struck out both Freddie Freeman and Justin Upton after Simmons’ double. When Evan Gattis and Chris Johnson worked a pair of walks to loaded the bases, reliever Jumbo Diaz entered the game and induced a sharp grounder from Tommy La Stella for a 6-4 force out that ended the inning. And that was that.
Leake allowed two hits and three walks with six strikeouts in 6 2/3 ininngs, and the right-hander also doubled and scored the game’s only run.
“He kept the ball down,” said Upton, who was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts to snap a 13-game hitting streak. “He was getting some calls down, and that gave him confidence throwing the ball down in the zone. He just located really well.”
Santana (13-7) allowed only four hits, one run and one walk with seven strikeouts in seven innings, but lost for the first time in his past seven decisions and nine starts.
“You know what, it’s a shame that we couldn’t get him a win, because he pitched terrific,” Gonzalez said. “You figure we could scratch one run or we could get something for him to (at least) not get the loss. Their back end of the bullpen is pretty good, when you’ve got (Jonathan) Broxton and obviously Aroldis Chapman.”
Chapman struck out Freeman, Upton and Chris Johnson in order in the ninth inning, still clocking 100-102 mph with 11 of his 12 fastballs despite pitching for the third consecutive night.
Besides Simmons, the only other Brave that reached second base was Emilio Bonifacio on a two-out double in the eighth inning, and he was stranded when Simmons struck out to end the inning. Bonifacio had two of the Braves’ three hits.
It was the second loss in nine games for the Braves, and second in four since their five-game winning streak. They are 4-2 on a 10-game trip and need a win in Sunday’s series finale to avoid a split of their four-game series with the Reds, before a day off Monday in New York and a three-game series against the Mets beginning Tuesday.
“(Santana) pitched really well,” Upton said. “The other guy just got run support. We didn’t support Ervin very much. He went out and gave us seven strong innings. You can’t ask for much more than that. He made one mistake but, hey, that happens.”
Santana lowered his ERA to 2.95 in 11 starts and lost for just the second time in 10 decisions in that span.
“Ervin’s been electric for us lately,” Braves center fielder B.J. Upton said. “It was just one of those nights when we couldn’t get that big run. Tommy hits the ball hard in that situation with the bases loaded, and of course it’s right at them. We hung in there pretty well, unfortunately we just didn’t come out with the win.”
The Reds had just two base runners in the first five innings – a single in the third and a hit batter in the fourth – and neither advanced.
But after the pitcher Leake’s leadoff double in the sixth, Billy Hamilton sacrificed him to third and Brandon Phillips’ two-out single on a full-count fastball gave the Reds a 1-0 lead.
“In a situation like that anything can happen,” Santana said of his one rough inning. “He was dealing, I was dealing, and it’s one shot and that’s it.”
As well as Santana pitched, Leake was even more effective in shutting down the Braves, who’ve scored three runs or fewer in three of their past four games, after totaling 33 runs during their five-game winning streak including seven or more three times.
Leake had allowed 16 hits and nine earned runs in 12 innings over his previous two starts, but against the Braves he recorded 15 outs in the first 15 batters he faced. After Bonifacio led off the the game with a single, he was thrown out trying to steal for the second out in the inning.
Leake retired the next 10 batters after Bonifacio’s hit, including eight consecutive groundouts. Between the first and seventh innings, the only Brave to reach base was Freeman on a two-out walk in the fourth inning.
The Braves had a prime scoring opportunity after Simmons’ leadoff double in the seventh. But Leake struck out their two hottest hitters, Freeman and Upton. After Johnson walked, Gattis worked a full count, checking his swing on every pitch before fouling off a 3-2 pitch and then taking ball 4.
With the bases loaded, the Reds brought in right-hander Jumbo Diaz to face La Stella, who before Saturday was 6-for-9 with bases loaded with three doubles, a triple, a walk, no strikeouts and 15 RBIs. The rookie grounded sharply to the shortstop, who threw to second for the inning-ending force.
“(Leake) gives us fits,” Gonzalez said. “When you look up and down the matchup stuff, he gives us fits. He changes speeds, he pounds the left-handers in with his fastball and his curve, and again, we had one shot at him, and we hit the ball hard. That’s all we could do.”
