Gonzalez shakes up lineup with pitcher batting 8th

Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez hinted after Sunday’s loss he would make some changes to the Braves slumping lineup but predicted “nothing major.”

He had a change of heart overnight, though, and came up with something he acknowledged Monday was pretty drastic.

The personnel didn’t change much but the batting order did. Gonzalez had the pitcher Aaran Harang hitting eighth – and inserted Ramiro Pena at second base and into the No. 9 hole to serve as a second leadoff man of sorts. Justin Upton moved up to the No. 2 hole in front of Freddie Freeman.

“Last year we moved Justin to the 2-hole and we ran off a couple of good, long winning streaks, No. 1,” Gonzalez said. “No. 2, our best hitter right now is arguably Freddie Freeman. He gets a chance to hit third in the first inning, and then he gets a chance hopefully if it all works out, he hits third or fourth the next time around with more people on base. Basically that’s the reasoning behind it.”

When the Braves moved Upton to the No. 2 hole last year on July 27, it corresponded with when the Braves put Jason Heyward in the leadoff spot. The Braves went on a 17-3 tear, hitting .274 and averaging 5.35 runs per game.

Taking it a step further and hitting the pitcher eighth is an unorthodox move at a pivotal time. The Braves have scored only 10 runs on their six-game losing streak while hitting only .183.

“It’s a six-game losing streak,” Gonzalez said. “Our offense is kind of sputtering around and why not do it?”

The Braves entered the Cardinals series Monday night in danger of losing their seventh in a row – something they hadn’t done since losing eight in a row May 21-28, 2012. Guess how they snapped that one? Gonzalez batted the pitcher eighth – also against the Cardinals – on May 29 and the Braves won 5-4.

It’s ironic, perhaps, that Gonzalez is doing it against the Cardinals again, where Hall of Fame Manager Tony La Russa used to hit the pitcher eighth from time to time.

Gonzalez batted the pitcher eighth five times over the next eight games in 2012. The Braves went 4-1 in games with the pitcher batting eighth, including an 11-0 win over the Marlins.

After Gonzalez went back to the conventional lineup again, he said the lineup change didn’t really make his “toes tingle.” This time around, he sounded like he’ll give it a go for a few days and see what comes.

“I haven’t come up with a number saying we’re going to do it for 10 days, we’re going to do it for two weeks,” Gonzalez said. “But I think for something this drastic, yeah, let them do it for a little bit….