Evan Gattis did more than help the Braves avert a shutout with his eighth-inning homer Saturday night against the Angels. He sent a jolt that woke a moribund offense and the crowd at Turner Field, where the Braves staged a furious four-run rally in the ninth to force extra innings and then rallied again to tie in the 10th.
But after all that, and after it looked as if the Braves a couple of different times would pull out one of their most impressive and improbable wins in recent memory, they lost 11-6 when reliever David Hale was charged with five runs in the 13th inning, his third inning of work in what had been a strong outing by the rookie to that point.
Erick Aybar started the Angels’ 13th with a bunt single, then things unraveled quickly on the Braves when Aybar advanced on a passed ball against Gerald Laird and Hale walked pinch-hitter C.J. Wilson – yes, the Angels starting pitcher from Friday’s series opener. Hale hit the next batter, Chris Iannetta, to load the bases.
One out later, Kole Calhoun hit a one-out single and Mike Trout added a two-run double to chase Hale and put the Angels up 9-6. Albert Pujols added a two-run single off rookie Shae Simmons before the inning was through.
Hale was charged with five runs in 2 1/3 innings, and a momentous rally was reduced to a footnote as the Angels evened the three-game series at a game apiece.
After the Angels scored a go-ahead run in the 10th against closer Craig Kimbrel, the Braves tied it again on Jason Heyward’s broken-bat RBI single in the 10th before leaving the bases loaded when Kole Calhoun made a sensational diving catch on Justin Upton’s fly ball to shallow right field.
Gattis led off the 11th with another hit, a single, and after a sacrifice bunt the Angels intentionally walked hot-hitting Braves rookie Tommy La Stella. Andrelton Simmons lined into a 5-4 double play to end the inning.
Just as quickly as the Braves brought Turner Field to a fever pitch with four runs on five consecutive hits to start the ninth, the Angels momentarily quieted the crowd when Albert Pujols hit a leadoff double in the 10th against Kimbrel and scored on Josh Hamilton’s single to put the Angels back on top 6-5. But the Braves had their rally machine going now, so they weren’t about to stop.
They got a run in the 10th against Angels rookie Cam Bedrosian, an East Coweta High graduate and the son of former Braves pitcher Steve Bedrosian. After Heyward’s broken-bat single drove in the tying run, Bedrosian induced a groundout from B.J. Upton and intentionally walked Freddie Freeman with first base open to load the bases with two out for Justin Upton.
Upton was ahead in the count 3-1 before hitting a fly ball that Calhoun charged in to catch with a play that will show up on highlight reels.
La Stella’s single in the 10th gave the rookie his eighth multi-hit game in 15 since arriving from Triple-A. One out later, Ramiro Pena reached on an infield hit before Heyward came through with his second huge hit in as many innings. Heyward had an RBI single in the ninth, one of five consecutive hits the Braves got to start that inning against reliever Ernesto Frieri.
Braves center fielder B.J. Upton, whose error in the eighth inning – his second in as many nights — led to an unearned run, made amends with a two-run triple in the ninth, before Freeman interrupted his recent slump with a tying RBI double that raised the decibels to ear-splitting levels.
Mike Morin replaced Frieri and struck out Justin Upton before the Angels walked Gattis intentionally with first base open, putting two on for Chris Johnson, who grounded into an inning-ending double play.
The Braves were 1-27 when trailing after seven innings before Saturday, when they rallied from a 5-0 deficit after seven.
The Braves got three consecutive singles to start the ninth from Simmons, pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit and Heyward, with Heyward’s hit cutting the lead to 5-2. Upton was up next and tripled to right-center to reduce the lead to a run and set the stage for Freeman, who had been 0-for-3 with a walk and three strikeouts before doing what he has done better than any other current Brave until recently. Hit with runners in scoring position.
After watching Angels teammates go 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position in the fourth and fifth innings against Braves starter Gavin Floyd, Mike Trout and Albert Pujols had taken matters into their own hands in the sixth.
Trout and Pujols hit consecutive home runs to push the lead to 3-0, which seemed like it would be enough on a night when Garrett Richards became the latest pitcher to set a career high for strikeouts against the free-swinging Braves.
Gattis’ home run was his seventh during a 15-game hitting streak, and he leads major league catchers and the Braves with 15 homers. Little did he know at the time that it was the start of something big for the Braves.
Richards racked up 10 strikeouts in six scoreless innings and was charged with four hits and three walks. The hard-throwing right-hander has allowed five or fewer hits in each of nine road starts and two or fewer runs in all but one.
Pujols’ sacrifice fly in the fourth accounted for the game’s only run until Trout and Pujols each blistered an 0-1 Floyd pitch to the bleachers.
Floyd was charged with a season-high four runs on seven hits and four runs in 6 1/3 innings, his last run scoring when reliever Anthony Varvaro walked Trout with the bases loaded and two out in the seventh.
The Angels tacked on an unearned run in the eighth after an error by B.J. Upton allowed Howie Kendrick to reach third base on a one-out single.
Floyd allowed four home runs in 42 innings all season before Saturday, and never more than one in a game. Pujols’ homer was his third in 15 at-bats against the veteran right-hander.
The Braves wasted a prime opportunity in the fifth, when they trailed 1-0 and had two runners on base after Floyd’s leadoff single and B.J Upton’s one-out walk. Freeman got ahead in the count 3-1 but ended up striking out, as did Justin Upton to end the inning.
Having failed to capitalize in the fifth inning, the Braves watched the Angels turn a one-run lead into a 3-0 margin in the sixth when Trout hit his 13th homer and Pujols added his 16th two pitches later.
The Braves have scored one or no runs while he was in the game in half of his eight starts. This time, no one should have expected them to score many, at least not while Richards was pitching.
The Angels right-hander began the day with a 2.08 ERA and .159 opponents’ average in road games — the best in the majors in the latter category among pitchers with at least 40 innings.
Richards’ overall .211 opponents’ average before Saturday was tied with Oakland’s Scott Kazmir for the American League lead among starters, ahead of the Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka (.216), Texas’ Yu Darvish (.218) and Seattle’s Felix Hernandez (.219). In other words, he has been really good this season.
But the Angels bullpen, not so much. And the Braves took advantage soon after Richards left the game.
For rewritten game story with postgame quotes, please go to MyAJC.com or use this link.
About the Author
