Offense stymied as Atlanta Braves fall to Colorado Rockies

After a come-from-behind victory on Friday night, the Atlanta Braves were in position to make a similar surge on Saturday afternoon against the Colorado Rockies. Despite numerous opportunities, however, the Braves consistently fell short offensively and fell at the hands of Colorado by a 3-1 final margin.

As evidenced by the final score, the Braves did a solid job in run prevention, and while it wasn’t Mike Minor‘s finest outing, he certainly was solid throughout. One of Minor’s issues has always been (and will always be) allowing home runs, and he was stung by solo bombs from Michael Cuddyer (2nd inning) and Troy Tulowitzki (6th inning) that put Atlanta in a hole. In total, Minor allowed only three earned runs while scattering four hits and striking out six, but on a day when the bats simply went silent, it wasn’t enough.

Offensively, the Braves were stymied by Rockies right-hander Juan Nicasio. The 27-year-old Nicasio had struggled to a career 9.82 ERA against Atlanta in four outings prior to Saturday, but he was extremely effective from the opening pitch. If there was a weakness from Nicasio, it was the fact that he walked four over just six innings, but the lineup consistently failed with runners in scoring position (0-for-4 on the day) and Nicasio allowed only two hits while striking out five.

If there was a bright spot on offense, it came from B.J. Upton, who finished 2-for-4 while scoring the team’s only run. Upton is now 5 for his last 10 (in addition to two walks) in the last three games, and his batting line is looking more respectable (admittedly a low bar) with a .296 on-base percentage and a .352 slugging percentage with eight stolen bases.

The Braves will have a quick turnaround, as the series finale is set for 5:10 pm on Sunday as a result of the holiday weekend. Atlanta will send Julio Teheran to the hill against Franklin Morales for the Rockies. Stay tuned for all the latest.