ANAHEIM — Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez came up with a lineup Friday so different that any he had used previously, even some players were buzzing about the changes and crossing the clubhouse to see it for themselves.
Chipper Jones, who had hit in no other position but third all season, was at cleanup, swapping spots with Brian McCann.
Dan Uggla, who had batted only fourth or fifth as a Brave, moved to the second spot.
“They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome,” Gonzalez said before Friday’s interleague series opener against the Los Angeles Angels. “So we’ll change it, see what happens.”
The Braves totaled five runs in a pair of losses Wednesday and Thursday at Arizona and didn’t score until the ninth inning of the 2-1 series finale. They still had the National League’s best record (12-6) for May, but only 19 runs in their past six games.
Gonzalez decided on a one-day rest for right fielder Jason Heyward, who’s recovering from rotator-cuff inflammation and played three consecutive games Tuesday-Thursday in his first starts in a week. With him on the bench, the .193-hitting Uggla was moved to the two-hole behind Martin Prado.
“We haven’t scored runs like we’re capable, so why not?” Gonzalez said. “Why not move him up there between Prado and McCann and get him going? And I say ‘get him going,’ because the average is not where we want or he wants it to be. But man, oh, man, he’s hit balls hard for two weeks it seems like, and right at people.”
With runners in scoring position, the Braves’ usual fifth, sixth and seventh hitters — Uggla, Freddie Freeman, Alex Gonzalez — were hitting a collective .177 (20-for-113) with 30 strikeouts. Uggla was a team-worst 6-for-43 (.140).
Meanwhile, Jones ranked among National League leaders with a .424 average with runners in scoring position and his 27 RBIs were second on the team behind Prado’s 28.
Gonzalez said the primary reason he moved Jones to fourth was to break up what would have otherwise been three consecutive left-handed batters, with Eric Hinske and Freeman batting fifth and sixth, respectively. He ran it by Jones and Uggla before he posted the lineup.
Heyward: I expected to play
Heyward arrived at the ballpark expecting to play Friday, but Gonzalez quickly let him know he was on the bench and why.
“He just gave me a day off, to rest,” said Heyward, who had a wrap on his right shoulder in the clubhouse, with an electric stimulation device he said also delivered medication “somehow, some way” to the area of his rotator-cuff inflammation. “I was expecting to play when I got here. [Gonzalez] was on the field running and just let me know how he wanted to go about it.”
Heyward said the shoulder felt no worse after playing three games, but he had no problem with being rested. He had a cortisone shot last week and returned to the lineup Tuesday against Houston. He went 2-for-12 in his three starts.
Heyward is scheduled to play Saturday and Sunday against the Angels, before the team’s day off Monday. Gonzalez said Heyward would play both games at Pittsburgh on Tuesday and Wednesday, before another team day off Thursday.
“Then he should be really good,” said Gonzalez, who wants to do what he can to prevent Heyward’s shoulder soreness from lingering.
Freeman’s huge following
The right-field bleachers at Angel Stadium might as well have been re-named the Freddie Freeman section Friday. The rookie first baseman is from nearby Villa Park, Calif., and said approximately 1,800 people were coming to see him play.
Yes, 1,800.
“About 1,500 from my church, 200 from my high school, and then family and friends,” said Freeman, playing for the first time professionally at the stadium where he grew up attending Angels games.
He said the right-field pavilion section would be nearly filled with his church group, which bought a huge block of tickets in that section. Freeman’s family planned to view the game from a suite rented for the occasion.
Freeman matched a career high with three hits Thursday, on a night when the rest of the Braves had only two hits.
