Perhaps the first game back from the All-Star break wasn’t the best choice for the Zombie Night promotion.
The Braves, after winning 13 of their final 25 games before the All-Star break, played a bit like the living dead in the early innings of an 11-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies in their series opener Friday at Turner Field.
After surprising everyone with efficient and effective performances in his first two starts for the Braves, journeyman Lucas Harrell lasted 3 2/3 innings against the Rockies and was charged with seven hits and seven runs, only five of which were earned due to his throwing error in the four-run third inning.
“He didn’t have his location tonight,” said interim manager Brian Snitker, whose Braves fell to a majors-worst 31-59 including 13-35 at home.
The rest of the Rockies' runs scored on Ryan Raburn's ninth-inning pinch-hit grand slam off Dario Alvarez, after Braves reliever Arodys Vizcaino left the game with an injury to a muscle in his right side in his first appearance since July 6. He'll be reevaluated Saturday.
In losing for the ninth time in their past 10 games against the Rockies, the Braves got two runs on eight hits in six-plus innings against left-hander Jorge De La Rosa (6-6).
Harrell (1-1) had three walks and uncorked two wild pitches, one of which let in a run in the two-run fourth inning. A.J. Pierzynski was charged with a passed ball in that inning as the Rockies pushed their lead to 7-0.
“The one thing (Harrell) has been doing is just pounding the strike zone, and he got behind guys tonight and just wasn’t as sharp.” Snitker said. “Then he made a good play getting to the ball and threw it away. And a wild pitch. It wasn’t all offensively inflicted. He was just off tonight. It happens.”
Since arriving from Triple-A, Harrell had allowed one run in each of his first two starts, posting a 1.32 ERA and .156 opponents’ average. He limited the Marlins to three hits in six innings of his Braves debut, a win against Jose Fernandez, then held the Cubs to four hits in 7 2/3 innings at Wrigley Field.
But the former Astros pitcher came in with a 6.53 career ERA in four starts against the Rockies, and that jumped nearly another full run Friday.
“I didn’t get ahead,” Harrell said. “When you’re 2-0, 2-1 on everybody they know fastball’s coming. I wasn’t throwing my off-speed pitches for strikes, I fell behind, and they are a good hitting team. You can’t fall behind those guys.”
Carlos Gonzalez, in the 1,000th game of his career, went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI to give him a .343 average (36-for-105) and 25 RBIs in his past 30 games against the Braves.
The Braves had a couple of early scoring opportunities against De La Rosa, back when they trailed only 1-0. After a walk and a wild pitch put Adonis Garcia at second base with one out in the first inning, Freddie Freeman struck out and Nick Markakis grounded out.
After consecutive one-out singles from Pierzynski and Ender Inciarte in the second inning, Erick Aybar grounded into a double play.
“Their starter was tough on us tonight, too,” Snitker said. “There’s a reason why we didn’t score earlier – that guy was pretty good. Kept us off-balance. He was throwing a lot of off-speed stuff out of the zone. Just one of them things. I don’t think it was anything to do with the layoff or anything like that. Just one of them games.”
De La Rosa was 1-4 with a 7.20 ERA in six road starts before Friday and came in lugging a 9.77 ERA in three starts at Turner Field. But since returning to the rotation in mid-June after a two-week stint in the bullpen, the lefty is 4-2 with a 2.68 ERA in his past six starts.
The Rockies blew open the game with four runs in the third, beginning with a leadoff double from Charlie Blackmon, the former North Gwinnett High School star who played college ball at Georgia Tech and Young Harris College.
