Regardless of pedigree, just about every rookie pitcher will careen between highs and lows at the outset of his career. In the case of Braves right-hander Matt Wisler, he just experienced one of each against the same team in a span of one week.
After giving up nine hits and six runs (four earned) in four innings of a 7-0 loss to the Nationals last week in Washington, Wisler limited them to one hit in 5 1/3 scoreless innings Wednesday night in a 4-1 Braves win at Turner Field.
The Braves got consecutive home runs from 38-year-old A.J. Pierzynski and 36-year-old Juan Uribe in a four-run fourth inning and snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Nationals. The homers from the veterans, plus an RBI single from the 22-year-old rookie pitcher, were more than enough offense for a Braves team that has struggled mightily to score runs without injured first baseman Freddie Freeman.
In his third major league start, Wisler (2-1) had an unusual line that included five walks and six strikeouts. He threw 51 strikes in 84 pitches, including 27 pitches in a two-walk, three-strikeout first inning, after a rain delay of more than two hours prior to the first pitch.
“I think we’ve struggled against these guys for a while,” Wisler said, “(so) it was a good win and hopefully our confidence rolls into tomorrow and we get some winning going.”
Wisler has allowed just one run and seven hits in 13 1/3 innings of his first two starts at Turner Field, where he made an auspicious debut June 19 by outpitching the Mets’ Jacob deGrom and allowing six hits, one run and no walks in eight innings. He got beat up a little by the Nationals last week, but this time Wisler had the upper hand.
“It’s tough facing a team five days from his last start,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “I thought he did a nice job. Obviously I don’t think he’s the type of pitcher that walks five guys, but he did a nice job. Got some ground-ball double plays, kept us in the ball game.
“We were able to swing the bat and get us a couple of home runs — that one inning we scored four runs, which we haven’t done in a while. We haven’t put a crooked number up in a while, and against a really tough pitcher in (Doug) Fister. Good defense, good offense and Wisler did a nice job.”
Unlike last week, when the Nationals hit a lot of fly balls to the warning track and beyond, Wisler kept the ball on the ground most of the night Wednesday. His slider was sharp and his sinker had a lot of bite.
“Last time I was leaving balls up in the zone,” he said. “Today I finally got down in the zone. That’s what helped me a lot. Couple of ground balls. The one I missed today, he got to the warning track. Besides that I kept the ball down in the zone. My misses weren’t up in the zone over the plate.”
On Wednesday he was matched up for a second time against Fister (3-4), who pitched seven scoreless innings of four-hit ball against the Braves last week. This time, Fister allowed no hits and only one base runner until the fourth inning, when Cameron Maybin led off by beating out an infield single.
One out later, Maybin stole second base with Pierzynski batting, significant because it was the first stolen base allowed by Fister in 35 starts over two seasons with the Nationals.
Pierzynski pulled a long foul ball on a 2-2 count, and a few pitches later he brought it over about 40 feet to the left for a two-run homer on a full-count cut fastball. Three pitches later, Uribe swung with the count 3-0 and squared up an 85-mph fastball that he sent out a lot faster than it came in, driving it off the wall of the batter’s-eye backdrop beyond the center-field fence.
Kelly Johnson followed Uribe with a single, and one groundout later the Nationals intentionally walked Eury Perez with first base open and the pitcher on deck. Wisler surprised them by hitting a single through the right side of the infield, his first major league hit scoring Johnson for a 4-0 lead.
“Yeah, that was awesome,” Wisler said, smiling. “To get an intentional walk to get to me, then come up and get that hit, get myself a run, is big…. To get a hit off a professional, not some high school kid, that’s pretty awesome.”
It was a night for the unexpected. Wisler’s five walks was one fewer than he issued in six Triple-A starts in May. He had not walked more than two batters in a game all season, totaling 13 walks in 77 innings over 14 starts before Wednesday, including none in 12 innings of his first two big-league starts.
After the lengthy rain delay, Wisler walked the first batter of the game, Denard Span. His walks total was unexpected, as were three strikeouts in the first inning – he has not struck out more than seven in any start this season, in the minors or majors.
After walking Span, Wisler struck out Danny Espinosa and Yunel Escobar consecutively, walked Bryce Harper on five pitches, then struck out Wilson Ramos to end the inning. Twenty-seven pitches, none of them put in play.
Wisler needed only 35 pitches to get through the next three innings combined, retiring the side in order in the second and fourth innings and inducing an inning-ending double-play grounder by Escobar with runners on the corners in the third after a walk and an infield hit.
That was only the second-best inning-ending 6-4-3 double play turned by shortstop Andrelton Simmons and second baseman Jace Peterson. The prettiest came in the sixth inning, and it’ll show up on highlight reels. Wisler issued a leadoff walk to Espinosa, and after Escobar flied out just in front of the center-field wall, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez brought in left-hander Luis Avilan to face Harper.
Harper lashed a single to right field to put runners on the corners, but Ramos hit a grounder to Simmons, who had to hurry a toss to Peterson. The second baseman caught it bare-handed while avoiding the slide, then in the same continuous motion threw to first base to get Ramos for the third out, preventing a run.
Before their two-homer, four-run outburst in the fourth inning, the Braves had just four homers and 22 runs in 11 games since Freddie Freeman left their lineup with a right-wrist injury that’s expected to keep the first baseman on the disabled list until the All-Star break.
The Braves’ four runs in the fourth inning was one more than their entire scoring output in four losses against the Nationals during the last eight days of June. They were outscored 18-3 in those games, which included a sweep at Nationals Park and a 6-1 loss in Tuesday’s series opener, when Uribe’s ninth-inning homer prevented a shutout.
The Braves had just eight homers in 22 games since then, and entered Wednesday ranked last in the majors with 45 home runs – Philadelphia was the only other team with fewer than 55 – and last with 20 homers at home, 45 fewer than the Astros had at home.
About the Author
