Tim Hudson didn’t appreciate being taken out of Saturday’s game after 5 2/3 innings and blew off some steam in his post-game interview about it. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said Sunday morning he would have preferred Hudson didn’t voice his displeasure through the media, but he didn’t have any problem with the sentiment.
“You don’t want stuff like that out open in the press, but Huddy is a hell of a competitor,” Gonzalez said. “He is one of the guys that in a battle or a big game you want him on the mound. I’m fine with that.”
Hudson had given up his second two-run lead of the day on a two-run home run by A.J. Pollock on his 100th pitch, but he wanted a chance to get the final out of the inning against No. 8 hitter Didi Gregorius. He wanted a chance to figure into the decision.
“I don’t mind that,” Gonzalez said. “Guys are competitors. They want the ball. You want those guys. You don’t want guys that are looking in the dugout saying ‘Please come get me.’… We’ve got to make decisions and sometimes they’re tough decisions. But you want guys that want to take the ball and want to be out there.”
Hudson is in the midst of a career-long winless streak, which feeds into his frustration. Hudson is 0-6 with a 4.50 ERA over his past 10 starts. He’s been getting only 2.1 runs of support per nine innings during that stretch. So when the Braves got him four runs Saturday, and then added on seven in the eighth inning, it didn’t help his mood.
Hudson previous’ career-long winless streak came in 2002 when he was with the Oakland A’s, when he went 0-4 with a 5.90 ERA in eight starts.
“I would have liked the opportunity to have a decision,” Hudson had said after Saturday’s game. “One hundred pitches for me - that’s not really a magic number to take you out of the game. You work real hard the whole game and there’s one pitch that a guy puts a good swing on a pitch away and ties the ballgame up. Apparently you need 16 years in the big leagues to get that chance.”
Hudson, who is in his 15th season, is 4-7 on the season.
Schafer, Gattis updates
Jordan Schafer did some light running on Sunday and said his right ankle is improving but he’s still not comfortable enough to run fullspeed. “It’d be a good one-legged hop,” he said. But he’s hoping with the day off Monday, he’ll be ready to return Tuesday against the Marlins.
Evan Gattis said his oblique is getting better and he hopes to begin taking some dry swings on Tuesday. Gattis is eligible to come off the disabled list on Wednesday but won’t be ready as he’s used nearly the full two weeks just to rest his sore side muscle.
