NEW YORK – The matchup of Jason Heyward against the pitcher who broke his jaw with a fastball will have to wait.
The Braves right fielder was out of the lineup for the first time this season for Friday night’s series opener against the Mets and left-hander Jon Niese, who hit Heyward on the right side of his face with a 90-mph fastball on Aug. 21, fracturing his jaw in two places and necessitating surgery and a one-month stint on the disabled list.
Manager Fredi Gonzalez insisted the Niese matchup had nothing to do with his decision to rest Heyward, who was mired in a 5-for-51 slump that dropped his batting average to .136 and his on-base percentage to .271 before Friday.
The left-handed-hitting Heyward is 9-for-24 with two homers in his career against Niese. He was replaced in right field Friday by switch-hitter Ryan Doumit.
“It’s the middle of a 16-game streak, and we talked about giving some guys some days off here and there,” said Gonzalez, who has given at least one day off to everyone in the lineup except first baseman Freddie Freeman and Justin Upton. “(Heyward) has played every single game. So give him a little breather, get him back in the lineup again tomorrow.”
Friday would have been the 11th game in a string of 16 scheduled games in 16 days for the Braves. However, they were rained out Tuesday in Philadelphia. Their next scheduled day off is Thursday, between home series against the Marlins and Reds.
Gonzalez moved Andrelton Simmons to the leadoff position Friday. He said the only other option he considered was batting B.J. Upton first and Simmons second, but Gonzalez said he looked at their on-base percentages – something he said he never does when making out the lineup – and decided on Simmons (.346) over Upton (.242).
He said Heyward would be back in the leadoff spot Saturday.
The Braves faced the Mets several times during spring training and in a three-game series in Atlanta April 8-10, but they had not seen Niese since that fateful afternoon at Citi Field when he hit Heyward. Gonzalez said he didn’t think about the significance of the matchup Friday until after he’d already told Heyward after Thursday’s series finale in Philadelphia.
“I didn’t think about it till this afternoon when Walk (hitting coach Greg Walker) and I were talking,” Gonzalez said. “But I’ve never seen any residual effect (with Heyward facing lefties), even when he came back (in September).”
Heyward is 1-for-18 with one walk and nine strikeouts against lefties this season. But he’s hitting some balls hard against lefties, including his eighth-inning line out to right field Thursday against lefty Antonio Bastardo.
Since returning from the Niese beaning in September, Heyward has worn a plastic extension attached to the right ear flap of his helmet to protect his face when batting. He said he was ready to face Niese before Gonzalez told him Thursday he’d had the day off.
“I honestly don’t care — I’ve got to face him, I’ve got to face other lefties, got to face other pitchers in general,” Heyward said. “Obviously it’s a part of the game. It’s ironic that this is the first day off (with Niese pitching), but skip told me yesterday, ‘Hey, have a good dinner tonight, relax, don’t come to the field (early) tomorrow. We’ve got you. This will be your day (to rest).
“For me, there’s nothing in my head (about facing Niese). As you’ve seen, I’ve had to face lefties since then. I had to face Clayton Kershaw in the playoffs after that last year.”
Gonzalez said the same thing that Heyward had said a day earlier about his dearth of hits in the past 2 ½ weeks.
“He’s been one of the unluckiest guys,” Gonzalez said. “He’s hit the ball hard. I don’t even know what (percentage of) hard-hit balls is, but it’s got to be up there. He almost won the game yesterday with the ball he hit….
“I don’t even know what he is (average-wise against lefties), because for me he brings it. He brings energy, he brings defense, he brings baserunning. It’s just time. You watch and you see, sometimes guys need a little breather. That’s all.”
