BOSTON — There was plenty to recommend from the Braves’ six-day swing against the traditional American League East powers, but the trip started and ended in alarmingly similar and troubling results for pitcher Mike Minor.
Minor allowed two walks followed by two homers before getting an out in the fourth inning of a 9-4 loss to Boston on Sunday at Fenway Park, where the Red Sox won the last two games to take the series 2-1.
The Braves finished 3-3 on a trip that began with a series win at Yankee Stadium, where their only loss came in the opener when Minor sailed through four hitless innings and had a 2-0 lead before giving up three runs in the fifth.
Eric Hinske broke from a long slump Sunday with a double, a triple and two RBIs, and Jason Heyward extended his hitting streak to 10 games while continuing his scorching June with three hits that included a double and his 11th home run. But seven runs (four earned) off Minor in the fourth and fifth innings put the Braves in a hole from which they could not climb.
“We’ve got to somehow, some way, get over the hump there,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said of Minor’s middle-innings meltdowns. “I keep saying the ‘young pitcher’ phrase. [But] we’ve got to get him over the hump somehow, whether it’s just keep running him out there, let him learn in those situations. ...”
Or what? Gonzalez didn’t mention other options, one of which would be to replace Minor (3-5) in the rotation with reliever Kris Medlen, who returned just over a week ago from a two-week stint in Triple-A to build arm strength — “get stretched out” — in case he was needed to start.
If the Braves decide to plug Medlen into the rotation, it might not necessarily be in Minor’s spot. The Braves have two inconsistent young starters in the rotation, Minor and rookie Randall Delgado, who gave up four runs, six hits and two walks while lasting 1 1/3 innings of an 8-4 loss Saturday, the briefest start of his career.
Delgado pitched eight strong innings in his previous start against Baltimore.
Minor, who Sunday gave up three homers among six hits in 4 2/3 innings, allowed two runs in 12 1/3 innings during two encouraging starts at Miami and at home against the Yankees before going 0-2 with a 6.97 ERA in his starts on the trip.
But those two starts were exceptions during a period in which Minor is 1-5 with 7.16 ERA in 11 starts while allowing 70 hits, 28 walks and a whopping 18 home runs in 60 1/3 innings.
“I’ve felt good my last four starts,” said Minor, who has a 6.14 ERA overall. “I know you’re not going to have your greatest stuff every time. I feel like today is one of those days.”
After giving up a three-run homer to Cody Ross followed two pitches later by an Adrian Gonzalez solo homer in the fourth inning, Minor watched his teammates score three runs in the top of the fifth to cut Boston’s lead to 4-3. Then he gave up three runs in the bottom of the inning, including another two-run homer by Ross. Not good.
It didn’t much matter to Gonzalez that those three Red Sox runs in the fifth were unearned, after shortstop Andrelton Simmons’ throwing error to start the inning, the second error in 20 games for the hot-hitting rookie since he arrived from Double-A.
“As a pitching staff we’ve got to cover that up,” Gonzalez said, meaning pitchers must overcome an occasional miscue. “Nobody goes out there without making errors or a mistake, a bloop single. ... As we go forward with these guys, we’re going to have to cover that up. We’ve got to take it upon ourselves as a pitching staff to bear down and get a shutdown inning.”
