The Braves need everything to go right for them to slip into the NL playoffs but things went wrong quickly for them Saturday night against the Mets.
Left-hander Mike Minor lasted just one inning before shoulder pain sent him to the clubhouse. The rest of the Braves joined him after losing 4-2 and edging to the brink of elimination from the playoffs.
The Braves (76-78) could be officially out of the race for the final NL wild card before the Pirates come to town on Monday. Entering Saturday, any combination of three Braves losses and Pirates victories would eliminate the Braves.
The Pirates played lost to the Brewers on Saturday night. Pittsburgh can clinch the wild card with a victory on Sunday combined with a Braves loss to the Mets.
Minor left after facing five batters in the first inning while throwing 20 pitches with nine strikes and allowing one run. He said he felt pain while getting loose before the game.
“I thought maybe it would get a little bit better as I threw my bullpen (session) or even in the first inning and you get that extra adrenalin and it kind of goes away,” he said. “Tonight it didn’t. Every pitch I could feel something. When I came in, they pretty much said, ‘That’s it.’”
Minor was slowed by tendinitis in his left shoulder during spring training and made no appearances. He began the season on the disabled list before joining the starting rotation on May 2.
Minor said the pain on Saturday was the same as he felt during the spring.
“It’s kind of frustrating because I feel like it’s not anything serious but it’s nagging pain that won’t go away,” he said. “It’s there every pitch. The last couple starts I felt it a little bit more and more and tonight worse than others.”
Five Braves relief pitchers held the Mets (75-80) to three runs over eight innings but, as usual, there wasn’t much offense in support. Mets left-hander Jonathon Niese (9-11) held the Braves scoreless over 7 1/3 innings until Freddie Freeman knocked a two-run single off reliever Josh Edgin in the eighth inning.
That wasn’t enough for the Braves, who lost for the 10th time in 12 games. They’ve scored 23 total runs over that stretch with four shutout losses.
“Same story, just a different day,” Freeman said. “It’s hard to win ballgames when you only score two runs. That’s the name of the game for us the last few weeks. Hats off to our bullpen. They had to pitch eight innings tonight and they pitched great.”
Minor allowed five runs in 4 2/ 3 innings in a loss at Texas on Sept. 14. That outing ended a string of six consecutive starts in which he went at least six innings and allowed no more than three runs.
Minor’s struggles in June and July prompted manager Fredi Gonzalez to skip his turn in the rotation in August. Minor had pitched well since then with few exceptions but said the shoulder pain wasn’t the cause of his earlier struggles.
“There was some times it was barking a little bit but I can’t write that off as all year long it hurting every game,” he said. “I can’t really say that. Maybe some starts but not every single one.”
Minor got off to a bad start Saturday when he walked lead-off hitter Eric Young Jr and hit Daniel Murphy with a pitch. Lucas Duda drove in Young with a sacrifice fly before Wilmer Flores flied out to right to end the inning.
Reliever David Hale replaced Minor and gave up a lead-off double to Curtis Granderson in the second inning. Braves right fielder Emilio Bonifacio threw out Granderson at the plate trying to score on Eric Campbell’s single, but rookie Dilson Herrera followed with a two-run home run.
The Mets added Granderson’s lead-off homer in the eighth inning for a 4-0 lead. The Braves finally answered in the bottom of the inning.
Consecutive one-out singles by Joey Tredoslavich, Bonifacio and Phil Gosselin loaded the bases. Freeman scored two runs with the single to center before Justin Upton and Chris Johnson grounded out to end the rally.
Justin Upton (twice), B.J. Upton, Bonifacio and Ryan Doumit all hit balls hard that ended up as outs.
“It’s just kind of getting repetitive,” Freeman said. “It’s almost like you kind of expect people to line out in those situations. You’ve just got to keep going up there and grinding it out. Obviously we are running down to the end but you’ve still got to grind it out until the season is over.”
