SAN DIEGO — Cory Gearrin made his major league debut Monday night seem easier than his next-day work on Twitter.
The Braves’ rookie reliever retired all six batters he faced and recorded two strikeouts during the ninth and 10th innings of Monday’s 5-3, 13-inning loss against the Padres.
“That was nice to see,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said of the right-handed sidearmer’s debut, three days after Gearrin arrived from Triple-A Gwinnett. “That was a tough way to crack your first major league game. He did great. Didn’t walk a guy.”
Gearrin wasn’t quite as efficient trying to work through all the Twitter messages he received in the hours after the game.
Gearrin, 25, had asked injured Braves reliever Peter Moylan, who’s wildly popular on Twitter, to spread the word and help get Gearrin more followers.
The result of Moylan’s tweet and a two-inning televised major league debut was more than 1,000 new followers for Gearrin, and the genial Tennessee native wanted to thank each and every one of them.
“I checked my Twitter account and it was like, hundreds of [new-follower] messages,” Gearrin said. “I was like, that is so cool.”
After Gearrin was told last Thursday night that he had been called up to the big club, his mother and sister scrambled to book a flight to San Francisco for the weekend series against the Giants. They didn’t get to see him pitch there and returned to Tennessee before the Braves continued their three-city, 10-game trip in San Diego.
“They had to leave before the third game [Sunday in San Francisco],” Gearrin said. “I honestly didn’t know when or if I was going to be able to pitch on this trip, so asking them to, ‘Hey, just hang around San Francisco and San Diego for a week’ … I mean, they wished they could be out here, but it’s understandable.
“And they got to watch it on TV and DVR’d it and everything.”
Gearrin was born and raised in Dayton, Tenn., and his mom lives in Chattanooga. His father, a high school teacher-coach and umpire in Cleveland, Tenn., plans to bring a group of coaches to a game in Atlanta during the homestand that starts Friday, provided Gearrin gets to stay with the team.
McCann gets a rest
Catcher Brian McCann was out of the starting lineup Tuesday for the second time in three games, but his absence was understandable after he caught all 13 innings in Monday’s series opener.
“The plan was to [rest him in Wednesday’s series finale],” Gonzalez said. “But I think today would be better — 13 innings, and I think he’s gotten beat up a little bit, too, a couple of foul tips got him yesterday,”
Gonzalez smiled and said, “The way things are going, it might not even be a whole game. He might rest about six innings and then get him in there [in a double-switch]. Hopefully we score some runs.”
The Braves hit just .195 in their past six games before Tuesday, including two losses against the Dodgers, three wins against the Giants, and Monday’s loss to the Padres.
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