Braves Waste Early Chances, Fall to Mets 4-1

Jul 23, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Kris Medlen (54) heads to the dugout after being relieved during the sixth inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

It was another frustrating night for Braves fans as the offense just couldn’t seem to put a couple of hits together with plenty of runners on base.  Simmons led off the game with a home run on the second pitch of the game and he was the only Brave to cross the plate.  The Braves almost added a second run in the 1st when Evan Gattis lined a hard single to center with Jason Heyward on second, but third-base coach Brian Snitker made a horrible decision and sent Heyward home only to get thrown out by 15 feet.  Mets center-fielder Juan Lagares didn’t even make a good throw on the play, but Gattis hit the ball so hard Lagares had it in his glove before Heyward even reached third, so it wasn’t really that hard to throw him out at that point.  The Braves also had runners at second and third with no one out in the second and failed to score.  For the game the Braves were 1-8 with RISP and left 9 men on base.

We also might have seen the last of Kris Medlen in a starting role this season.  It was another disappointing outing for Medlen and it couldn’t come at a worse time for him with Alex Wood entering the rotation on Thursday and Brandon Beachy possibly making his final rehab start on Wednesday.  Kris just doesn’t seem to have the command of his pitches that he had last season.  Many are speculating that Medlen is going to move to the pen as long as Beachy’s final rehab start goes as planned.  It doesn’t really sound like Medlen likes the idea, but I think he is team first guy and will make the move without incident.

We did get to witness the Braves debut of Kameron Loe, who pitched a scoreless inning.  So there’s that.

At least both the Nationals and the Phillies lost tonight, so the Braves didn’t give up any ground in the NL East.