Manager Fredi Gonzalez and Braves officials figured something would happen — as it usually does in these matters — to create an opening in the starting rotation, if not at least make the logistical decision easier before Brandon Beachy returned from the disabled list.
It hasn’t happened. Beachy could come off the DL next week and the Braves rotation is enjoying one of its best stretches in more than a decade. Manager Fredi Gonzalez reiterated Monday the team doesn’t know yet what it would do when Beachy returns.
Entering Monday night’s series opener against the Padres, Braves starters had allowed three earned runs in 35 innings (0.77 ERA) over the past five games, including one or no earned runs in all four games of the road series against the Los Angeles Dodgers that ended Sunday.
Starters had allowed two earned runs or fewer in all nine June games before Monday to match the longest such streak for Atlanta in a dozen seasons. The last time Braves starters allowed two or fewer in 10 consecutive starts was April 2001, when it was done by Greg Maddux, John Burkett, Tom Glavine, Kevin Millwood and Odalis Perez.
“Streaks start or end with good pitching,” said Gonzalez, whose Braves split with the Dodgers and were 7-2 with a 1.42 ERA in June. “Those four games in L.A., our starting pitching was really good. And our bullpen, for that matter.”
During a four-game series at San Francisco on May 9-12, the Braves got seven innings of three-run ball from Julio Teheran to win the series opener, then saw starters Tim Hudson, Paul Maholm and Kris Medlen give up a combined 24 hits and 17 runs (15 earned) in 13 2/3 innings of three losses. Medlen was the only one to make it to the sixth inning.
At that time, it looked like Beachy couldn’t get back soon enough to help the sagging rotation.
“But after that, we’ve run off some pretty good starts,” Gonzalez said. “They might not have been seven or eight innings of no-hit baseball, but good starts.”
The rotation had reduced its ERA to 3.29, third-best in the majors before Monday, and the pitching staff had whittled its overall ERA to a majors-best 3.14. Mike Minor was 5-0 with a 2.04 ERA in eight starts in May and June.
“We’ve all had our times where we’ve kind of veered off a little bit,” Medlen said. “Happens every year, ups and downs. We’re in an up right now, obviously.”
About the Author
