Chris Johnson is no one’s conventional clean-up hitter, but the 10-pitch at-bat he put together in the fifth inning Friday night against the Nationals was just what Fredi Gonzalez had in mind when he put Johnson in that fourth spot.
Johnson fouled off four two-strike pitches before singling to right field on a 95 fastball from Aaron Barrett to put the Braves up 5-4 in an eventual 7-6 win. Johnson had three hits in the game, including a 10th inning two-out single that set up the Braves walk-off win.
“That’s what he’s done since he’s been here,” said Gonzalez, of the piece the Braves got along with Justin Upton in the seven-player trade that sent Martin Prado to Arizona. “Even last year wherever we hit him - whether it was the seventh hitter, or eighth hitter, fifth - that’s the at-bat he can give you right there.”
Johnson came just 10 points shy of a National League batting title last season, working at-bats just like that. Friday’s fifth-inning two-out single was also Johnson’s first of the season with runners in scoring position, breaking up an 0-for-9.
“Those are the at-bats that I think I’m in that spot to have - to battle and grind them out and try to get something good to hit and drive that guy in,” Johnson said. “I was able to do that pretty good last year. I like being in that spot. I like when the pitcher feels like he’s on the edge, and I really feel like I’m on the offensive side of that. So it’s fun for me.”
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