The Braves had a chance for a neat and tidy finish to their three-game series with the Mets Sunday and their nine-game homestand. Instead they left for the west coast kicking themselves for the same old offensive deficiencies.
Saturday’s doubleheader sweep over the Mets proved just a hiatus from the Braves’ offensive woes, which crept back in during Sunday’s 3-2 loss.
Manager Fredi Gonzalez showed just how desperate the Braves are to score when he took a couple of high-risk gambles and lost – calling for a suicide squeeze bunt with two strikes on pitcher Tommy Hanson and giving slow-footed Brian McCann the green light to steal with one out in the eighth.
“When you’re not scoring runs you’ve got to try to make something up,” Gonzalez said. “That’s why they call it a suicide squeeze. It didn’t work this time.”
The Braves hit only .233 and averaged only 3.2 runs during a 4-5 homestand.
“We show flashes here and there where the bats seem to break out and you think ‘OK here we go,’” Chipper Jones said. “… Unfortunately for us it seems like some (pitchers) have been on their game against us in particular.”
The Braves figured to have the advantage Sunday with Tommy Hanson taking on Dillon Gee, who was called up from Triple-A Buffalo to replace the injured Chris Young. But the Braves managed only seven hits and stranded seven runners.
“You look at it on paper, games like this we’ve got to start winning,” said Jones, who was representing the tying run when he was stranded at third to end the game. “But it didn’t happen today.”
The Mets snapped a seven-game losing streak with a big day from leadoff hitter Jose Reyes. He went 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and a stolen base and scored two runs. Back-to-back hits by Reyes and Josh Thole helped the Mets take a 2-0 lead on Hanson in the first inning.
Hanson allowed three runs in five innings, piling up 97 pitches and nine strikeouts, and lost for the third time in his four starts, despite a 3.86 ERA.
It was Hanson's failed bunt attempt that put a damper on his day, after the Braves loaded the bases with nobody out, having cut the lead to 2-1, and came away with empty-handed.
With one out and two strikes on Hanson, Gonzalez put the bunt sign on. Hanson swung through the Gee fastball to leave runner Eric Hinske exposed, charging in from third base only to get caught in a double-play.
“As (the pitch) was coming in I kind of lost it for a second, didn’t see it real well,” Hanson said. “And it went right under my bat.”
As well as the Braves have pitched so far this season, their pitchers have struggled to get bunt downs.
“You’ve got to put the ball in play right there, or at least put the bat on the ball,” Jones said. “Even if it’s foul and you strike out, at least you’re protecting the runner and you give Martin (Prado) an opportunity there.”
Jason Heyward homered to lead off the eighth and cut the Mets lead to 3-2. Then the Braves put the tying run on twice with nobody out in the last two innings but came up empty, including the eighth when McCann got thrown out trying to steal off reliever Jason Isringhausen.
“I know he was close to the 2.0 (seconds) going home,” said McCann, who got picked off by Isringhausen instead. “Runs were hard to come by today, and I just picked the wrong pitch.”
Said Gonzalez: “We were trying to steal a run … (McCann left) maybe a hair early.”
Jones led off the ninth with a walk but was stranded after pinch hitter Brooks Conrad struck out against Francisco Rodriguez to end the game. Conrad kicked his bat in disgust. Braves pinch hitters are 0-for-23 for the season.
For Jones, that’s just a symptom of a larger problem.
“When you’re struggling at the plate offensively as a team, why would you think that the eighth and ninth inning would be any different?” he said.
