The Braves were the picture of frustration Saturday afternoon, after spoiling another lead late to the Cardinals and a dominant performance by Brandon Beachy, in a 3-2 loss.
Dan Uggla tossed his helmet in the air, with what-can-I-possibly-do resignation, after lining out to strand two runners in the eighth. He hit it hard, but right at third baseman Daniel Descalso.
Alex Gonzalez was ejected in the ninth for arguing a third-strike call with home-plate umpire Marvin Hudson, which drew Fredi Gonzalez nose-to-nose with Hudson soon thereafter and into the fray that led to his first ejection as Braves manager.
Beachy took a two-hit shutout into the eighth inning, only to bring a litany of what went wrong with his pitching repertoire to his postgame interview.
“I didn’t have a good curveball, good change-up, good slider for the whole game,” Beachy said of an outing that came off as nothing short of stellar to everybody else.
(“Oh man, what a really good-looking pitcher he is. ...” Cardinals manager Tony La Russa had opened his postgame press conference with across the ballpark.)
But it looked loneliest in the Braves’ clubhouse a few lockers down from Beachy, where Craig Kimbrel’s cowboy boots were left unattended while he worked out after the game and then addressed the media.
“It’s frustrating to me because I feel like I’ve let the team down the last two games,” the rookie closer said. “[Those were] two games I felt like we should have won.”
Kimbrel has two blown saves and sustained a loss in his past six appearances, including a blown save in the series opener Friday. Trouble started again with the leadoff man.
Matt Holliday led off the ninth Saturday with a single, advanced on a passed ball, and scored easily on Gerald Laird’s triple to left center.
“I’m leaving pitches over the plate, and they’re hitting them,” said Kimbrel, charged with his first major league loss. “I’m letting their leadoff guy get on, and that’s probably one of the most important guys to get out, especially if you want to get in a rhythm in an inning. I haven’t done that in the last few outings and it’s shown.”
In a weekend marred by accusations of anti-gay slurs made by pitching coach Roger McDowell and the DUI arrest of pitcher Derek Lowe, the Braves have done little to assuage matters on the field. Beachy looked as if he were the man to do it — he allowed only two singles and a hit batter through the first seven innings — only to fall short.
Nobody reached second base on Beachy until Descalso led off the eighth with a double to right center. Beachy, who entered the inning having thrown only 87 pitches, walked Tyler Greene to leave two runners for Jonny Venters. A sacrifice and a two-out David Freese single through the infield tied the score 2-2.
When asked if he had started to tire, Beachy said: “No, I just made bad pitches. I threw the two worst at-bats of the game right there, couldn’t afford to do that.”
Beachy, still 1-1 despite his 3.47 ERA, had done his part with the bat, too, executing a bunt to advance two runners into scoring position in the fifth. Martin Prado drove them in with a two-run double to left field. But that lead vanished in three innings.
These back-to-back losses wouldn’t be excruciating for the Braves if they hadn’t had chances to come back. But even Brian McCann, who was leading the majors with a .611 average (11-for-18) with runners in scoring position, can’t buy a clutch hit. He grounded into a double play with the bases loaded Friday night, then flew out to the warning track with two runners on in the eighth inning Saturday.
