Jason Heyward popped out with the bases loaded for the key out in a 10-2 loss to the Phillies on Saturday afternoon, swinging at a 1-0 pitch some might have thought he shouldn't have. He stranded the tying and go-ahead runs, with the Braves down only 3-2.
Phillies pitcher Roy Oswalt had just walked Brian McCann and Dan Uggla on five pitches each to bring Heyward to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning.
But for veteran Braves hitter Chipper Jones, Heyward made the right play being aggressive against Oswalt in that situation.
“He’s not a guy who’s going to give you free passes to get himself in trouble, and he’s certainly not going to do it in that situation with the bases loaded,” Jones said. “He’s going to come right at you. I like the aggressiveness. I would have been doing the same thing. Just got in on him. Happens.”
Oswalt pumped his fist after Heyward broke his bat and popped to third baseman Placido Polanco, knowing that he had gotten the key out against one of the Braves' better clutch hitters.
Oswalt told reporters afterward he had thrown Heyward off-speed pitches earlier in the game, such as in the second inning when he threw a 62 mph curveball immediately after a 95 mph fastball and got him to ground out. But in the sixth he threw him two fastballs up and in.
Salazar to manage Friday
Braves minor league manager Luis Salazar is set to return to his managerial post with Class A Lynchburg on Friday when the team opens at home against Myrtle Beach.
It has been only 4 1/2 weeks since he lay unconscious on the dugout floor after getting hit in the face by a McCann foul ball in spring training, when everyone involved feared for his life. Salazar's left eye had to be surgically removed, but he has made a remarkable recovery otherwise.
Doctors have since discovered a fracture in his right arm from when he fell backward down five steps into the Braves' dugout, but it was only minor in nature. He has been rehabilitating in Orlando, but reiterated to Braves director of player development Kurt Kemp on Saturday morning that he's ready to return.
Salazar will begin the season managing from the dugout, but there’s a chance he could eventually return to coaching third base. Doctors have not limited him in what he can do on the field, Kemp said, it’s just a matter of what he’s comfortable with and how well he feels like he can see the whole scope of the field. He has been fitted for protective goggles to wear on the field.
“It’s a matter of what he’s comfortable with,” Kemp said. “It’s his call.”
At least at first, hitting coach Bobby Moore will handle third-base coaching duties, which typically fall to the manager in the minor leagues. Rick Albert has been serving as Lynchburg's interim manager this week while the team is on the road.
Etc.
Alex Gonzalez hit his 300th double of his career with a shot to right field in the third inning off Oswalt. He collected his 301st in his next at-bat in the fifth, but it was a letdown, as he had come just inches from a homer over the left-field wall. ... When Jones hit his three-run game-winning double against Cliff Lee and the Phillies on Friday night, which happened to be the same day that Manny Ramirez retired, he moved into the active lead in baseball for game-winning RBIs. Ramirez had 208; Jones now has 207. ... When Craig Kimbrel rushed out from the Braves bullpen Friday night for his first entrance as Braves closer at Turner Field, the stadium staff was showing a "Guess the Attendance" game on the video board rather than playing the song Kimbrel has chosen to make his entrance, which he's still keeping a secret. If it was a letdown, it didn't show as Kimbrel as he cruised to his third save in three tries, all perfect innings.
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