Smith out of Braves lineup, but ankle is fine
PITTSBURGH – Mallex Smith was out of the Braves lineup Monday, but it had nothing to do with the ankle he rolled during a rundown at the end of his ninth-inning RBI single Sunday.
The ankle was good – he played the rest of that 13-inning loss and said he was fine afterward – but the Braves faced a second consecutive left-handed starter Monday, and this time without benefit of the designated hitter rule that enabled them to have an extra hitter in the lineup for the series at Kansas City.
While manager Fredi Gonzalez plans to play Smith occasionally against left-handers, for the most part it’ll likely be Jeff Francoeur in left field against lefties, with Ender Inciarte in center in those games and Nick Markakis as the every-day right fielder.
Francoeur was 11-for-36 (.306) against lefties before Monday, the only Brave with an average as high as .280 against lefties in more than two at-bats. Smith was 2-for-24 (.083) with two walks and 11 strikeouts against lefties.
Smith had a .297 average against right-handers with a .453 slugging percentage that ranked second on the team to Freddie Freeman’s .494 vs. righties before Monday. The Braves’ regular lineup now against righties is Smith in center, Inciarte in left and Markakis in right.
Markakis spent three days in the DH role at Kansas City, a move Gonzalez made to keep Markakis’ bat in the lineup while easing the workload on the veteran for a few games. Having Markakis as DH enabled Gonzalez to move Francoeur to right field and have Smith in center in all three games at Kansas City including Sunday’s against left-hander Danny Duffy (Smith struck out in his only plate appearance against him).
