After seeing Giancarlo Stanton hit three mammoth homers against the Braves in an Aug. 4-6 series the last time the Marlins visited SunTrust Park, Brave manager Brian Snitker was asked what the Braves did to keep Miami’s 53-home slugger under control in Thursday’s series opener, a 6-5 Atlanta win.
“We tried to stay away from him,” Snitker said, smiling. “Stay away from him; you’ve got to make pitches. If you don’t, he’s going to hurt you. I just kind of feel fortunate with what he’s been doing, that ground-ball base hit (in the fifth inning, with the Braves ahead 3-2) is like ok, really. Didn’t want him to tie the game.”
Actually, what Stanton has been doing in the past couple of weeks is a far cry from what the major league home run leader was doing last time he and the Marlins were in town.
Stanton was 4-for-39 with three home runs, four RBIs, eight walks and 13 strikeouts in the Marlins’ past 11 games including 10 losses before Friday, when he was out of the lineup for the first time in 37 games since July 30.
He was fine physically, but just getting a day off in hopes it would help him snap out of his recent funk.
Before the slump he’d been on a remarkable binge, batting .356 (62-for-174) with 12 doubles, 29 home runs – yes, 29 – and 58 RBIs in a 47-game run from July 4 through Aug. 27, carrying a .925 slugging percentage over that torrid stretch.
The Braves have always handled Stanton better than most teams. He had a .211 average and .735 OPS in 104 games against Atlanta over eight seasons before Friday, his second-lowest average and OPS against any National League team, better than only his .172/.681 in 37 games vs. Milwaukee.
Stanton’s 18 home runs against the Braves were also easily his lowest total against any NL East team, compared to 27 homers in 101 games against the Phillies, 33 homers in 105 games against the Mets, and 34 homers (with a 1.001 OPS) in 105 games against the Nationals.
His .255 average against the Braves this season before Friday was his best against them since 2012, and his five home runs in 12 games against the Braves were two more than he hit against them in any of his other seven major league seasons. He hit as many homers (three) in two nights Aug. 4-5 against the Braves as he had hit in any previous season against them.
