Kelly Johnson showed a bit of rust and a bit of shimmer in his first game back from the disabled list Wednesday night.
He doesn’t seem to have missed a beat at the plate, going 3-4 and knocking in Atlanta’s first run in a 4-1 win.
“It was a good first day,” Johnson said after the game. “Obviously it doesn’t always work out that way even when you’ve been playing 20 games in a row, it’s just baseball. So it’s nice to have that day, but also just the win. The guys pitched great.”
But he looked confused on a fly ball off Cory Spangenberg’s bat in the fifth, first charging in before suddenly back-tracking and ultimately watching the ball hit the ground beyond his outstretched glove for an RBI double.
“I just had a bad read — shaking off rest everywhere, really,” he said.
Johnson spent Monday and Tuesday on rehab assignment with Triple-A Gwinnett, going 1-7 at the plate with a two-RBI triple Tuesday.
He missed 24 games with an oblique strain that sidelined him since May 14. The Braves went 13-11 in that time. Johnson’s replacements in left field, Jonny Gomes and Todd Cunningham, hit .243 with no homers and six RBIs in his absence.
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