Mike Minor allowed two runs in six innings of his belated season debut Friday, but the Braves left-hander found out quickly that a solid outing such as that is no guarantee of success in this season of wildly inconsistent Atlanta offense.
After Freddie Freeman drove in a tying run in the bottom of the fifth inning, Michael Morse’s solo homer in the sixth gave the Giants a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in a 2-1 win to open a nine-game homestand at Turner Field, handing the Braves their fourth consecutive loss.
The Braves have had the majors’ best pitching so far, but have scored two or fewer runs in 11 of their first 28 games. They stranded 12 runners Friday, leaving two on base in an inning six different times, including the ninth when Justin Upton struck out looking to end the game.
“What are we, 17-11?” Braves catcher Gerald Laird said. “And I don’t even think we’ve hit like we should hit all year. We’ve been kind of struggling for runs and getting a three-run home run here and there to give us a lead. But I think this team is capable of scoring a lot more runs. Just be patient.”
Their final opportunity came in the ninth after B.J. Upton singled with two out and stole second with Freeman batting. Closer Sergio Romo walked Freeman on a full-count pitch to put the potential winning run on first base and bring up hot-hitting Justin Upton, who fouled off two two-strike sliders before looking at a third-strike fastball.
“I thought Mike was outstanding today, especially after the first (inning),” said Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. “But we left a lot of people on, 12 runners on base. We’re getting on base, we’re stealing bases and trying to create some runs that way, but we’re just not getting them in when we have to.”
Minor was activated Friday from the disabled list, where he began the season after developing shoulder tendinitis in the first week of spring training. He gave up seven hits and no walks with four strikeouts Friday, and threw 55 strikes in 80 pitches before leaving for a pinch-hitter with two on in the sixth.
In his return to the major league mound he was greeted rudely by Angel Pagan, who homered on the second pitch of the game. Hunter Pence followed with a lined single on the next pitch, but after that Minor settled into a groove and gave the Braves reason to believe their 2013 strikeout and innings leader is ready to pick up where he left off.
“I didn’t feel like (Pagan) was going to pull me (to left field) like that, and he did,” Minor said. “After that it kind of woke me up and I said, hey, I’m going to make some pitches here and not just throw strikes.”
Minor struck out Pagan with two runners in scoring position to end the second inning, and the Giants didn’t get another runner past second base until Morse’s home run to the right-field bleachers in the sixth.
“I felt good,” Minor said. “Threw some quality pitches. They hit some mistakes. I gave up a lot of hits that I felt like were more middle-of-the-plate (pitches). But other than that I felt good. Morse’s ball was up, it was a good piece of hitting to hit it the other way.
“I was more excited (in his debut after minor league rehab starts). I think that was maybe me overthrowing and leaving balls over the middle of the plate, early on. And then later on I felt like I threw some quality pitches and got some double plays.”
Braves third baseman Chris Johnson said, “He did awesome. It’s frustrating right now, us not being able to help them out at all. We left some guys on base, I left some guys on base. We’re just in one of those ruts where we’ve got to come up with that big hit.
“We all feel bad that we can’t help our pitching staff out. They’re going out there giving up one run, two runs, and getting beat. We should win those games. But we’ll get going.”
The Giants threatened again in the seventh after rookie reliever Ian Thomas walked the first two batters in the inning. One sacrifice bunt later, Anthony Varvaro entered the game and struck out Pagan and Pence consecutively to get out of the jam.
While Minor was getting back into the swing of things, the Braves continued a penchant for all-or-nothing offense, wasting scoring opportunities in the first and second innings.
They have been the majors’ worst-hitting team with runners in scoring position and two outs, with a .132 average in 91 at-bats before Friday. But at the same time, Freeman was the National League’s individual leader in that category, going 4-for-7 before Friday.
So it wasn’t overly surprising when the Braves had two runners in scoring position in the first inning and Johnson grounded out. Or when they had two runners on in the second inning and Jason Heyward popped out.
Or when they had two on with one out in the fifth and B.J. Upton flied out.
That brought to the plate Freeman, who delivered a game-tying RBI single that made him 5-for-8 with runners in scoring position and two outs. Justin Upton followed by lining out to left field.
After Morse put the Giants back ahead in the sixth, the Braves got a two-out walk and a Gerald Laird single in the bottom of the inning. Ryan Doumit pinch-hit for Minor and flied out to end the inning, and Johnson’s strikeout with two on to end the seventh.
“Tonight we gave ourselves opportunities,” Heyward said, “and it just didn’t happen.”
Braves other than Freeman are a collective 8-for-90 with runners in scoring position and two outs.
“When you’re not scoring runs this is the kind of games you get,” said Gonzalez, whose Braves fell to 7-6 in one-run games and 3-8 in games when they don’t hit at least one home run. “Jason got on base, he had three hits. B.J.’s got a six-game hitting streak going. Freeman got a knock. Justin got on base twice with (walks), and so on and so on.
“But now we need to split a gap (extra-base hit) with people on base, put a big number up.”
The Braves are also last in the league in sacrifice bunts with four, and that deficiency also reared its head when Minor struck out on a fouled bunt attempt after Laird’s one-out walk in the fifth. Heyward followed with a single that only put two runners on instead of driving one in, and they had to settle for one run in the inning on Freeman’s two-out single.
After Heyward’s leadoff single in the eighth inning, B.J. Upton was up next and botched a bunt attempt before striking out.
“It’s a little different,” Gonzalez said of the bunting woes, “when you’re facing a coach throwing 55 miles an hour or a machine, than it when you’re facing a live arm throwing curveballs, sliders, sinkers, not wanting you to bunt the ball. But we’ll just keep working on those things.”
