Johan Santana has had frustrating nights before against Atlanta, but nothing like Tuesday, when the Braves knocked out one of baseball’s winningest active pitchers after he recorded only four outs.
The Braves scored five runs in the second inning and cruised to a 9-3 win against Santana and the New York Mets at Turner Field, their first win in five games against the Mets this season and the briefest outing of Santana’s 266 career starts.
"We did a nice job taking advantage of a couple of their miscues and putting a crooked number up there," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "We had some good at-bats. We had a pretty good approach."
Starter Randall Delgado (2-0) pitched 5-1/3 solid innings, and fellow 22-year-old rookie Tyler Pastornicky had a two-run double in the second as the Braves barreled to a 6-0 lead against Santana. The veteran left-hander’s mix of 88-89 mph fastballs, change-ups and sliders wasn’t anywhere as effective as when he faced the Braves on opening day.
“That’s a good feeling," said Pastornicky, who was upset with himself over not coming through in a bases-loaded at-bat during the weekend against Milwaukee closer John Axford. "That’s a big spot [Tuesday]. That’s a spot where the team needs me. It’s good to come through there.”
Santana (0-2) allowed six runs (four earned), four hits and one walk in 1 innings, five outs shy of his previous shortest starts. He lasted three innings in three starts, most recently against the Yankees in 2009.
He had a 2.13 ERA in 13 career starts against the Braves before Tuesday, and threw five scoreless innings of two-hit ball against them April 5 on opening day at New York.
“That was unbelievable," said Matt Diaz, who had two hits including single just before Freeman's epic at-bat. "He’s been struggling. He got to two strikes early and worked the count, then got the big hit. It was huge to see him do that. There were quality, selfless at-bats all around through the whole game."
Santana said, ""It was a long at-bat. I threw some pitches out there. He fouled them off. It's not just that at-bat. I felt good. It was just a good at-bat for him and he made me throw a lot of pitches and it just took me out of the game."
Freeman was 2-for-21 with 10 strikeouts in his past five games before Tuesday, and had been working to drive the ball to the opposite field again, as he does when he's at his best. He did it Tuesday.
“Yeah, exactly," Freeman said. " And then I got the base hit up the middle [RBI single in the fifth inning]. That’s what I’m looking for. It’s just nice to stay on pitches and not roll over and hit foul balls to the right side. It’s always nice to know you’re staying on the ball.
“Tonight we got [Santana's] pitch count up fast and we were able to get him out of the game.”
Delgado gave up three runs, seven hits and three walks with five strikeouts. The last run charged to him scored after he was replaced by Kris Medlen, who had four strikeouts in 2-2/3 innings of one-hit relief.
The Mets got two runs against Delgado in a fourth-inning spurt that began with Jason Bay's one-out pop fly was lost in the light by several Braves and fell in for a double in shallow center field near second baseman Dan Uggla.
“The only bleep in the whole grand scheme of things was after we lost that ball in the dusk and they got a couple runs, three hits in a row," Gonzalez said. "[Pitching coach] Roger [McDowell] went out there. Then he settled down, and we pushed him. He tried to go back out there in the sixth and tried to get him through the sixth. It’s a big hurdle for a young pitcher. We just felt that 103 pitches was enough.”
The Mets cut the lead to 6-2, but the Braves answered with two more in the fifth on a sacrific fly by Diaz and Freeman's second RBI hit. Juan Francisco added a pinch-hit homer in the eighth, the third pinch homer of his career and his first home run for the Braves.
Against the Braves on April 5, Santana allowed two hits and had five strikeouts in five scoreless innings, getting no decision in the 1-0 Mets win at Citi Field.
On Tuesday, the two-time former American League Cy Young Award winner gave up an unearned run in the first inning after Michael Bourn led off with a fly ball that bounced off left fielder Jason Bay’s glove for a two-base error.
“We took advantage of that mistake in the first," Diaz said, "when the ball was carrying a little more to left than the flags indicated and Bay made the error. And [Jason] Heyward had a great at-bat to move [Bourn] over, and that just set the tone. I would the offense in the first and second innings was a bunch of get-him-over, get-him-in’s, with a huge at-bat by Freddie mixed in.”
One of the worst innings of Santana’s career unfolded in the second, beginning with a leadoff walk by Dan Uggla — who had been 1-for-21 with one walk and 12 strikeouts in his career against the lefty. Diaz followed with a single that made 18-for-35 against Santana, and Freeman grinded out a damaging opposite-field double after fouling off five pitches in an 11-pitch at-bat.
The Braves certainly made the 33-year-old work, as Santana threw his 50th pitch before getting his fourth out.
Pastornicky followed Freeman’s RBI hit with an opposite-field double down the right-field line to push the lead to 4-0, and another run scored when Delgado bunted and first baseman Ike Davis threw way wide of third base. Santana finally got an out when Bourn, the sixth batter of the inning, grounded out.
Jason Heyward followed with an RBI single for a 6-0 lead, and Santana was replaced.
After missing all of 2011 recovering from shoulder surgery, Santana was sharp in his first two starts this season, posting a 0.91 ERA and .194 opponents’ average with 13 strikeouts in 10 innings. That was before the Braves unloaded on him like never before.
Santana’s 2.14 ERA against the Braves before Tuesday was his lowest against any of the 21 teams he had faced in more than five starts. He had allowed two runs or fewer in 10 of 13 starts. But his record against them was his worst and fell to 3-7 on Tuesday — matching his most losses against any team (8-7 against Cleveland).
"I think he would probably tell you his change-up wasn’t as good tonight as it was there" in New York on opening day, Diaz said. "He had more depth on opening day. I would say we were probably a little more anxious on opening day than we were today, and we chased.
"That’s not to say we’re going to go out and score five off of him every time – he’s way too good a pitcher for that. But we can have a better approach than we did opening day.”
