Atlanta offense sputters behind Ervin Santana in shutout to Reds

The Atlanta Braves couldn’t get anything going at the plate to back a solid outing from starting pitcher Ervin Santana, and fell to the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 Saturday night.

Santana proved once again how valuable he is to the starting rotation, throwing seven innings and allowing just four hits and one run. He struck out seven batters and walked just one on 106 pitches to put the Braves in a prime situation to take home a win.

But, as you probably deducted from the titel of this recap, the Atlanta offense was nowhere to be found. The Braves mustered just three hits against the combination of Mike Leake, Jumbo Diaz, Jonathan Broxton and Aroldis Chapman. In addition, the team struck out 10 times compared to just three walks.

Emilio Bonifacio and Andrelton Simmons were the only batters to tally hits at the top of the order, with Bonifacio going 2-4 with a double and Simmons going 1-4 with a two-bagger.

The only other Atlanta hitters to reach base were Freddie Freeman, Chris Johnson and Evan Gattis–all of whom reached base via a free pass.

With this loss, and another Washington win, the Braves slip seven games back in the race for the NL East and are one game out of one of the two wild card spots with San Francisco and St. Louis holding them for the moment.

The team will get back at it at 1:10 this afternoon as Alfredo Simon takes on Aaron Harang.