The Braves had blown most of their 9-1 second-inning and 10-2 fourth-inning leads Tuesday night, but they still had a two-run lead when closer Jason Grilli went to the mound aiming to convert his eighth save in as many appearances.
But after Grilli gave up a one-out single to Jose Lobaton and walked Danny Espinosa on a close pitch, he gave up a three-run homer to Dan Uggla that felt like a gut punch to the Braves and most of their fans, especially judging from the chorus of boos from the crowd at Turner Field every time Uggla’s name was announced.
“I was trying to go up and in,” Grilli said of the fateful fastball, “but I didn’t get the call on another at-bat, and gave in to, you know, challenge him. It’s one of those games. Teams were just blow for blow. It’s not a game we should have let slip out of our hands.”
Uggla, whose $13.2 million salary is being paid almost entirely by the Braves – making his the highest salary being paid by the Braves to any player this season – also had a two-run triple in the three-run seventh inning Tuesday.
But it was the towering, no-doubt-about-it homer off Grilli that left folks stunned. For one night, at least, it was the Braves’ worst fears realized: the player they released last July, with about $19 million still left on his contract, coming back to beat them while playing for a division rival and still being paid by the Braves.
And he did it by crushing a 0-2 fastball. For Braves fans who’d watched Uggla flail at so many outside breaking balls after getting behind in so many counts over the years, seeing him tee off on a fastball over the plate was cringe-worthy.
“Look at the swing he took on the 0-1 pitch,” Grilli explained. “I tried to go to the same spot again. When a guy misses that bad you don’t speed his bat up (by throwing something other than a fastball). He was looking for it, and it wasn’t in the right spot. It won’t happen again, I guarantee you that. You get me once, but that’s about it.”
