LOS ANGELES – Braves center fielder Cameron Maybin was in the lineup again Tuesday night, despite being 2-for-24 with seven strikeouts in his career against left-hander Clayton Kershaw, the two-time reigning Cy Young Award winner who started for the Dodgers in the middle game of a three-game series.
That decision said plenty about how well Maybin has played, particularly since becoming the primary center fielder. He opened the season in a platoon with Eric Young Jr., who was 4-for-16 with four walks against Kershaw and on the bench to start Tuesday’s game.
Maybin started in center for the 12th consecutive game and 21st time in 22 games.
Maybin, who had a nine-game hitting streak snapped Monday, had a .310 average (22-for-71) with six extra-base hits, 13 RBIs and a .417 OBP in the past 22 games in which he’d batted before Tuesday.
“He’s going really good. Believe it or not, I didn’t want to tinker with the lineup,” said Gonzalez, alluding to criticism he’s drawn in some quarters for the ever-changing lineups he used in the first quarter of the season. “Not that we didn’t talk about it. We also talked about giving (second baseman Jace) Peterson a day off, against the lefty. But you know what, Petey’s going to stay in and fight, he’s going to fight him and put the ball in play. And he’s playing great defense. So why even mess around with that situation.
“So we stuck with it. The only thing different we did was put (Alberto) Callaspo in there (at third base) over (Pedro) Ciriaco.”
