Braves unravel in loss to Giants

“A lot of good things are happening, and we need to build on that,” third baseman Chipper Jones said. “Flush today and move on. I’m not going to harp on what happened today. We had a good homestand and beat some good pitchers.”

X-rays on Gonzalez’s pitching arm revealed only a contusion. He was struck a few inches below his surgically repaired elbow by a Nate Schierholtz liner leading off the eighth. He could miss the Milwaukee series, but Gonzalez (3-3) said he should return for the Florida series that begins Tuesday.

Cox was ejected — third time this season, record-extending 146th time in his career — for arguing after Barry Zito’s third-pitch called strike to Yunel Escobar in the sixth inning. Martin Prado was thrown out trying to steal second on the pitch for an inning-ending double play.

When a reporter asked if the pitch, a curveball, was a little high, Cox said, “A little high? I’ve never seen a ball like that called a strike, ever. In 50 years ... . That ball was so high, it was a joke.”

Zito (6-10) issued five walks while allowing only three hits with six strikeouts in seven innings, including three strikeouts and three walks in the fourth. Casey Kotchman struck out to leave the bases loaded in that inning, and Jones struck out looking for the first out.

“He was maximizing the width of the strike zone,” Jones said. “The heighth, too. Seems like the strike zone was bigger when he was out there. That happens. Umpires have off-days.”

After Gonzalez left the game, the game left the Braves. The score was tied 1-all at that point, the Braves getting an Escobar homer and little else. Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami gave up one run, four hits and three walks, but left after piling up 97 pitches in five innings.

After Gonzalez was replaced by lefty Boone Logan, Travis Ishikawa reached on a bunt single to first baseman Kotchman, who attempted (and failed) to get the out at second.

Peter Moylan replaced Logan, and the next batter, Juan Uribe, laid down a sacrifice bunt to the third-base side. Moylan fielded it and turned toward third. Realizing he was too late to get the out at third, he hurried and made an errant throw to first, nearly causing a collision between Uribe and Kelly Johnson, who was covering first. Schierholtz scored the go-ahead run on the play.

“The mistake was made when he spun to third,” Jones said. “We’ve got to get an out in that situation. I was yelling, ‘first, first, first,’ and [catcher David Ross] was yelling ‘3, 3, 3.’ Just miscommunication.”

Two strikeouts later, Randy Winn’s two-run single broke the game open. Winn has a .379 career average against the Braves, including .453 in his past 24 games against them.

“We had a bad inning,” Cox said. “I don’t know what happened. We didn’t make a couple of bunt plays.”