Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez has been impressed with relief pitcher Shae Simmons’ poise in some tense circumstances but Tuesday he finally put the rookie in a spot that rattled him.
“The only time I saw him a little flustered yesterday is when I asked him to grab a bat just in case,” Gonzalez said. “He said, ‘What do you mean?’”
The Braves were leading the Mets 5-4 in the fifth inning with two outs, a man on base, Tommy LaStella at bat and Christian Bethancourt on deck. Simmons was due up third but figured he would be replaced by a pinch hitter.
That wasn’t necessarily the case, though. Simmons got out of a tough jam when he came on to get the last two outs in the top of the inning, and if the Braves added some more runs Gonzalez was going to leave Simmons in the game.
“I said, ‘Grab a bat and a helmet. If Bethancourt hits a three-run homer you’ve got to hit,’” Gonzalez recalled. “So guys are getting him batting gloves and a thumb guard. ‘Well, I don’t need a thumb guard.’ Yes you do. I don’t want you getting jammed.”
Simmons said he didn’t want to use the thumb guard because he was worried the bat would slip out of his hands. Eventually catcher Gerald Laird told Simmons to pick out any one of his bats.
“I asked for the biggest bat they had, but they didn’t think it was too funny,” Simmons said.
Simmons didn’t have to use Laird’s bat because La Stella struck out. That means Simmons’ only at-bat as a professional remains the one he had at Double-A Mississippi this year.
He struck out.
“I swung after it hit the glove,” Simmons said.
Simmons went back to the mound for the sixth and retired the side in order while earning his first major-league win. For the season he’s posted a 1.23 ERA with 15 strikeouts and two walks in 14 2/3 innings over 17games.
Simmons has proven to be an effective pitcher for the Braves so far. He said he wasn’t panicking about the possibility of hitting.
“I was just going to have fun with it,” he said. “If it would have came to me to bat, it would’ve meant that Bethancourt got a hit or (La Stella) would have gotten a hit … so it would have just meant we had a little more run support.”
