ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — For the second time in four weeks, Braves rookie Randall Delgado got wild and then got grand-slammed, putting his team in a hole in the early innings. And just like the time before, it was a day game without Chipper Jones in the lineup.
That’s the worst possible combination for the Braves. Even on the road, where they have been otherwise formidable.
Matt Joyce’s third-inning grand slam erased a two-run Braves lead and propelled the Tampa Bay Rays to a 5-2 win at Tropicana Field on Saturday afternoon.
“The whole game, other than the first inning, it was like checking a gas tank with a match,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said of Delgado’s outing. “And it ended up getting him there in the third inning. Just fell behind hitters, walks — what did he have, five walks? — and then in that one inning he just gave up the grand slam, and pretty much that was it.”
It was only the third loss in the past 13 road games for the National League East-leading Braves, but they fell to 5-7 in day games and 6-11 in games when Jones was not in the lineup. The veteran third baseman had a severe bruise above his left ankle after being hit by a hard one-hop grounder Friday and isn’t expected to play until sometime during a series in Cincinnati that starts Monday.
The Braves are 19-5 when he has been in the lineup. They are also 20-9 in night games, where the Braves have hit .284 and averaged 5.6 runs per game, compared with their .231 batting and 4.3 runs per game in day games.
Rays right-hander Alex Cobb, in his 10th major league start and season debut, held the Braves to six hits and two runs in a career-high seven innings, and he and two Rays relievers retired the last 16 Braves in order.
Since giving up a second-inning grand slam at Arizona on April 21, Delgado posted a 2.55 ERA and allowed only one homer in his past four starts before Saturday, including a 1.33 ERA in his past three. But the 22-year-old Panamanian flirted with trouble almost from the beginning against the Rays, walking the first two batters of the second inning after being staked to a 2-0 lead.
He benefitted from a perfect throw to the plate by right fielder Jason Heyward to avoid a run in that second inning, but there was no wiggling out of the third-inning jam that Delgado got himself into.
“Bad control today,” he said. “The problem was my fastball. I couldn’t control it. Those walks. ... I have to keep trying to learn from that.”
In the game at Arizona, Delgado had a 1-0 lead when he intentionally walked the No. 8 hitter to load the bases with two out in the second inning and pitcher Ian Kennedy due up. Then his command completely abandoned him. He walked Kennedy on four pitches to bring in the tying run, and three pitches later Gerardo Parra hit a grand slam.
On Saturday, he walked No. 2 hitter B.J. Upton (not intentionally) to load the bases with one out, then fell behind 2-and-0 against the hot-hitting Matt Joyce before throwing a sinker that stayed over the middle of the plate that Joyce deposited over the center-field fence for his team-high eighth homer.
“It was almost the same [as Arizona],” Delgado said. “I was looking for the double-play and threw two balls, then tried to get the ball down for a double play but left it right in the middle. It got hit.”
In his previous three starts, Delgado had held opponents to a .186 average. He had worked out of trouble despite three walks in each of his past two games.
“He just wasn’t as fine with his pitches as he’s been the last couple of outings,” McCann said. “He still threw the ball all right. He got in trouble when he walked [Upton], and one of their hottest hitters came up in the right spot. You fell behind him 2-0 and you’ve got the decision to make whether to throw him a fastball or throw him a change-up.
“We didn’t dictate too many counts. We fell behind either 1-0, 2-0, 2-1 a little bit too much today. His stuff was there. He keeps getting better and better, today was just one of those days where he couldn’t locate as well as he wants.”
