Red Sox blank Atlanta Braves during Tommy La Stella’s debut
The Atlanta Braves couldn’t get a leadoff runner on base until the 9th inning. That, combined with a lack of RISP hitting, really sealed their fate in Wednesday night game against the Red Sox. It’s not that the offense is truly slumping, as they Braves had 9 hits in the game. It’s just that they aren’t stringing them together, and they are forcing themselves to pull out miracle hits with 2 outs. The league average is only .215 in that situation, so expecting any real production with 2 outs is a fool’s errand.
Gavin Floyd had a hard time in this game, and his pitch count reflected it. By the 4th inning, Gavin had already thrown around 80 pitches, and the Red Sox were really making him battle to get strikeouts. Still, Gavin finished with 5 innings, 6 hits, 3 walks, and only one earned run. The other unearned run was due to an error by Pena. Regardless, even with the score 2-0 Boston when Floyd left the game, it might as well have been 10-0. It felt like the Braves were trying to escape quicksand. Atlanta simply wasn’t going to score in this game, and it was frustrating to watch.
It really seems that the Red Sox pounced on whatever errors the Braves made. That goes for all the games in this series. If a ball gets away in the dirt, the Red Sox are advancing a base. If there’s a runner on second, the Red Sox are getting the 2-out hit to score him. If the Braves put out a box of Double Bubble, Dustin Pedroia is going to steal it for his Leprechaun horde. It’s infuriating to fans, even though it’s just the way momentum in baseball works. Sometimes you’re so hot that everything seems to be going your way, and other times you’re so ice cold you wonder if you’ll ever score another run. That’s the inconsistency of baseball, but it’s even more magnified by a Braves team that lives and dies with the long ball.
The bullpen continued to struggle with Alex Wood giving up 2 more runs, giving Boston a 4-0 lead which turned out to be the final score. That’s 8 bullpen runs against Boston in 3 games. The bullpen hadn’t given up that many runs in the prior 3 series combined. Also, when the Braves lose you can usually count on terrible RISP numbers, and the Braves did just that with an 0-6.
BJ really wilted at the plate, going 0-3 and 0-1 with RISP. Twice BJ came up in big situations, one time he walked, and the other time he struck out in an AB he would want back. Doumit as the DH went 0-4, which really makes me question who is a passable DH off the bench? I’m guessing Doumit is the best choice, but that’s not really saying much about our bench power. I suppose the other option would be for Laird to catch and Gattis to DH, but Laird’s hitting is iffy at best.
The lone bright spot is that Tommy La Stella made his MLB debut with the Braves, and he went 2/4 on the night. His parents were in attendance and got to see their son join the big league ranks after years of waiting in the minors. I think you can officially close the book on Dan Uggla with Tommy’s appearance on the roster, assuming he stays healthy. I have no idea how or if the Braves can make a deal for Uggla, but my gut tells me it’s not possible. In the end, I think the Braves are going to end up eating the remainder of Dan’s contract, and outright releasing him 3.5 years into one of the worst deals in baseball history.
The Braves try to avoid losing four in a row with Mike Minor on the mound Thursday. Mike will look to rebound from his 3-1 loss against Colorado, hopefully with some bigtime support from the Atlanta bats. Tune in to see if the Braves can take advantage of some Boston mistakes for a change.