TORONTO – After hitting a home run in his first major league game and homering in his first pinch-hit at-bat, Evan Gattis remained consistent Monday by homering in his first game as designated hitter and first in Canada.
The Braves rookie went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, one of the few bright spots for Atlanta in its 9-3 interleague loss to the Blue Jays. The slugger with the colorful past has been the most popular interview request among Canadian writers during the Braves’ two-game series in Toronto.
“He smoked that ball to right-center,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said of Gattis’ opposite-field homer against right-handed reliever Brad Lincoln. “He’s a special guy.”
It was the 11th home run for Gattis in just 129 at-bats, giving him a National League-leading ratio of one homer per 11.7 at-bats before Tuesday, ahead of Washington’s Bryce Harper (12.5) and Braves teammate Justin Upton (12.6). American League leader Chris Davis (11.0) was the only other hitter with a ratio of better than one every 13.9 at-bats.
Gattis improved that ratio to one every 11.1 at-bats when he homered again Tuesday, his 12th. He is 8-for-19 with five homers and 12 RBIs in his past eight games.
Gattis also had a single and a double off the left-field wall against Blue Jays starter Mark Buehrle, a lefty who used an array of off-speed pitches and mediocre but well-located fastballs to allow only three hits by players other than Gattis in the veteran’s six innings of work.
Even before homering again Tuesday, Gattis had than twice as many homers as any other major league rookie, and his team-high 31 RBIs were 1o more than any other rookie. He got his 32nd RBI Tuesday.
The 26-year-old Texan was hitting .371 in 35 at-bats against lefties before Tuesday, with six doubles, three homers, a .425 OBP and .800 slugging percentage.
With the scored tied in the seventh inning Tuesday, Toronto lefty Brett Cecil intentionally walked Gattis with a runner at third and two out to bring up Brian McCann, a left-handed hitter who had already homered once and would homer again in the 10th inning of the Braves’ win.
In 94 at-bats vs. right-handers, Gattis was hitting .234 with eight homers, a .277 OBP and .533 slugging percentage. He switched roles Tuesday with McCann, with Gattis catching and McCann DHing.
“I chase a lot of pitches up; that’s kind of been the book on me,” Gattis said of his hits against Buehrle. “So I was lucky to foul off that one before the double on the second at-bat. I at least touched it, kept me alive. And he was kind of going slower and slower and slower, where I just kept fouling them off. I got some pitches I could handle. And he stayed away the whole time. Fastballs (off the plate), slow and sinking away.”
In his first time facing most major league pitchers, Gattis is making notes. He finds the crafty ones particularly intriguing.
“Guys like him, (Dillon) Gee, (Shaun) Marcum, Bronson Arroyo,” he said. “Those are the guys I really appreciate. No matter what happens, I feel like I’m going to get better going up against guys like that. They have to be smarter. They don’t have as much stuff as they used to, or maybe that’s just how they are. But they’re smart, you know?”
