SAN FRANCISCO – Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez isn't committing long-term to batting the pitcher eighth and is the first to concede the strategy hasn't had much in the way of direct impact on games since he began using it a week ago.
But the Braves were 4-2 with the unusual alignment before using it in a seventh consecutive game in Monday’s series opener against the Giants. So for now, they’ll keep using it.
“It’s kind of helped us a couple of times,” Gonzalez said, mentioning a couple of instances where the Braves were able to pinch-hit one spot sooner than they would’ve if the pitcher batted ninth. “Like I said a couple of years ago, it doesn’t really make my toes tingle. But sometimes, you know, do something a little different. It’s better than to keep doing the same thing over and over again.”
In 2012 the Braves were mired in an eight-game losing streak in May when Gonzalez decided to bat the pitcher eighth – something that Cardinals manager Tony La Russa did on a semi-regular basis a couple of seasons — in hopes that doing something different might help the Braves snap out of their funk.
They ended the streak in the first game with the pitching hitting eighth and went 4-1 utilizing the unusual lineup that season. So this year, when the Braves had lost six in a row and the offense was stagnant, Gonzalez went back to the pitcher-batting-eighth strategy to see if it might work again.
The Braves lost the first night using, then snapped the seven-game skid the next night and had won four of their past five games with it before Monday. Again, Gonzalez is the first to admit it’s probably not had much impact one way or the other, but as long as they’re winning again they’ll probably keep using it for a while.
“At some point, when we start rocking and rolling offensively, I think we’ll go back to a more traditional lineup,” Gonzalez said.
Truth be told, pitching was a much bigger factor than hitting in the Braves getting back to winning in the past week. They hit .197 with four homers and 13 runs during their seven-game skid, compared to .229 with three homers and 13 runs in the past five games before Monday. In the past four wins, the Braves’ scoring totals were a modest two runs (twice), three runs and five runs.
