Braves rookie Matt Wisler was 1 year old when A.J. Pierzynski was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in June 1994. Tuesday night, Pierzynski’s two home runs and steadying influence behind the plate helped Wisler notch his seventh major league win.
Pierzynski went 3-for-3 with a pair of home runs, go-ahead shots in the fourth and seventh innings, and Wisler pitched seven strong innings in a 2-1 series-opening win against the Washington Nationals. The win assures the Braves won’t lose 100 games.
“Here was a 38-year-old guy who was supposed to catch 50 games,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said, “and he’s caught over 100 and is hitting right at .300 and doing one heck of a job for us.”
The Braves won their fourth consecutive home game after losing 14 of the previous 15. They snapped a four-game skid against the Nationals and beat their National League East rival for just the fourth time in 17 games this season.
Arodys Vizcaino worked around two singles to start the ninth inning and recorded his eighth save, getting a big assist from Pierzynski when he fielded Ian Desmond’s bunt and threw to third base to start a double play, with Daniel Castro firing to first base to complete it.
“It was a good game,” said Pierzynski, who homered twice off starter Tanner Roark for his sixth multi-homer game and first since June 2012 with the White Sox. “Wisler pitched great. The whole staff, Jack (Edwin Jackson) and Vizcaino. It was good to see Wisler – because I know he’s struggled against the Nationals – to go out and pitch the way he did hopefully gives him confidence. I think he’s got one more start, so he can carry it over to his last start and then to the offseason.”
Pierzynski raised his average to .299 with nine homers, after batting .251 with five homers in 2014 for Boston and St. Louis.
“Those two home runs were obviously difference-makers, so thanks to him for helping me out,” said Wisler (7-8), who gave up five hits, one run and two walks with four strikeouts in seven innings, and left after a leadoff single in the eighth.
Jackson relieved him and issued a one-out walk to Trea Turner before inducing an inning-ending double-play grounder by Bryce Harper, to the delight of an announced crowd of 15,272 (that was the tickets-sold figure; there were perhaps half that many tickets used).
Turner hit a game-tying leadoff homer on the first pitch of the sixth inning, the first of his major league career. Wisler then struck out Harper and Jayson Werth consecutively and recorded six outs in the next six batters, including Wilson Ramos’ inning-ending double play grounder in the seventh.
The Braves are 63-94 with five games left in the season, two against the Nationals and three against National League Central leader St. Louis. Wisler will get one more start Sunday in the season finale against the Cardinals.
The rookie right-hander was 0-5 with a 9.49 ERA in seven starts from Aug. 1 to Sept. 3, the last start in that slump a loss at Washington in which he gave up five hits, seven runs and three walks in just 1 2/3 innings.
The Braves stuck him in the bullpen three days later in the finale of that four-game series at Nationals Park, and Wisler responded with two hitless, scoreless innings. Moved back to the rotation five days later, he has gone 2-2 with a 3.12 ERA in four starts since, including three starts in which he allowed two runs or fewer in six innings or more.
“Sometimes it takes some of those (bad) games, to kick it up to the next gear,” Gonzalez said after Tuesday’s game. “And sure enough, it has. He pounds the strike zone, he throws secondary pitches for strikes. He’s done one heck of a job. But again, going back to the 38-year-old man (Pierzynski).”
In his past two starts, on the road against the New York Mets and Tuesday against the Nationals, Wisler is 2-0 with 10 hits and three runs allowed in 14 innings. Against the Nationals, he was 1-2 with a 9.00 ERA in three starts before Tuesday.
“I’ve come a long way, more mentally than physically,” Wisler said. “I’m making more pitches now, but I think the biggest thing in the last two games is attacking hitters, getting ahead. It just makes pitching a lot easier. Even tonight, I’m not perfect in the zone, I’m missing up, but they’re late on it because I’m up in the count so they’ve got to be on defense a little bit….
“Coming into next year, obviously I’ve got to start earning my spot now. That’s what September’s been for me, trying to get back and show them I can pitch up here, show them I can get outs up here. For me, just getting confidence up here, knowing I can get outs coming into next year, just getting myself mentally ready coming into next year.”
Wisler turned 23 this month and Pierzynski will be 39 in December. Baseball’s the game for all ages, right?
Pierzynski gave the Braves a 1-0 lead with his two-out homer in the fourth inning, and provided a 2-1 lead with his leadoff homer in the sixth. He hadn’t homered since Aug. 3, but if his homer pace had slowed his overall hitting rate had not. He’s hit .340 (69-for-203) with 15 extra-base hits in 57 games since July 4.
Braves third baseman Hector Olivera left the game after being struck in the left arm by a pitch in the fifth inning. The ball appeared to hit him high on the hard-plastic elbow guard he wears, but Olivera was attended to for a minute or two and was replaced by pinch-runner Jace Peterson. Olivera said he was hit near the funny bone and hopes to play Wednesday.
There was no more important an inning for Wisler than the first, when the Nationals started with consecutive singles from Anthony Rendon and Turner. That brought NL MVP frontrunner Harper to the plate.
Wisler got him on a fly ball to left field and Werth and Clint Robinson on pop-ups to get out unscathed.
“Obviously it could have gotten out of control,” Wisler said. “I worked through that, so I was pretty happy about that. I’ve got guys on first and second, not a good start. But just working to get Harper out was a big one; he’s obviously a real talented hitter, so to get him out in a situation like that was big…. That was a big inning for me.”
