The Braves were in for their first relative slugfest of the season – an anomaly for a team that hadn’t had one of its own starters give up more than two runs yet – and the outcome wasn’t pretty.
The good news was Justin Upton hit his first two home runs of the season. The bad was that David Hale became the first Braves starter to flinch, allowing four runs in 4 1/3 innings after walking five.
The ugly? The Braves lost 6-4 Thursday night to drop their first series of the season, two out of three to the Mets, and now welcome a hungry Nationals team to Turner Field this weekend.
Hale and the Braves had no answer for Mets leadoff hitter Eric Young Jr. who went 3-for-5, tripled, stole three bases, and scored four runs. Young took take top billing from Justin Upton, who had his first three-hit game of the season, including a moon shot to left field.
For the second straight game the Braves bullpen had its share of wobbly moments, and this time it cost the Braves the game. Daniel Murphy singled and scored the go-ahead run seventh and doubled to drive in some insurance in the eighth.
“It’s funny out of the bullpen, when somebody comes in and doesn’t do the job that you expect them to do it kind of screws up the rest of the way,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “Last night we ran into it in the ninth inning there bringing (Craig) Kimbrel in (with runners on) and then today in the seventh. It’s still nine games into the season so we’ll figure that out and gets some guys in the right situation.”
Left-hander Luis Avilan gave up a leadoff single and walked a batter in the seventh – both left-handed hitters – so Gonzalez didn’t leave him in to face the right-hander Juan Lagares with two outs and runners on first and third. Lagares broke through with a single off rookie right-hander Gus Schlosser to drive in the game-winning run.
But the tone was set for the night when Hale struggled with his command. His five walks in 4 1/3 innings were two more than he had totaled over 16 innings in his first three major league starts. Hale threw only 51 of his 90 pitches for strikes and couldn’t make the 4-3 lead supplied by Upton’s monster home run hold up. He was fortunate not to give up more than four runs (three earned) after Anthony Varvaro got him out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth.
“It was just one of those days I didn’t have command of the fastball at all, and I had to battle the whole time,” said Hale, who had allowed only one run in his first three major league starts. “It’s frustrating when such a simple pitch, and one that’s supposed to be my bread and butter, is just missing.”
The Braves are nine games into the season already, but Upton just remembered it’s April. The Braves outfielder broke out a two-homer display, reminiscent of his 12-homer April power surge a year ago.
With Chipper Jones in the ballpark for the first time this season, Justin Upton went “mammo” with his shot to left field that ESPN Stats and Information estimated traveled 477 feet.
“It’s always cool to hit them a long way,” Upton said. “…(But) they all count. I don’t care if they had to hit the green wall behind the wall.”
The two-homer game was the seventh multi-homer game of his career, two of which came last season.
Upton warmed up with an opposite field shot to right field for his first home run of the year, sending an 0-2 Jennry Mejia fastball into the right field seats. His second time up he punished a 1-1 Mejia changeup that cleared the walkway halfway up the left field seats, and then some. He singled to right in his fourth at-bat, for his second opposite field hit of the game.
“Tonight I was just comfortable,” said Upton, who was 6-for-30 entering the game. “The only thing I can do is just try to take that same exact feel to tomorrow night and the next day and try to make something of it.”
