Atlanta Braves still haven’t remembered how to hit, drop opener to Nationals

The Atlanta Braves clearly don’t know what to do at the plate at the moment, and dropped their series opener to the Washington Nationals 2-1 because of that, ruining another solid start from Mike Minor.

The lefty tossed six great innings for the Bravos and put the team in a great position to come away with a big win against the NL East division leaders. He went six complete innings and struck out three batters while walking two and scattering seven hits on 82 pitches. The Nationals drove in two runs on Minor–coming from the bats of Ian Desmond and Anthony Rendon in the first and seventh innings, respectively–but that was it.

After Minor exited, David Hale and Jordan Walden each threw shutout innings in the seventh and eight, Walden picking up a strike out and a perfect frame while Hale allowed one baserunner on a walk.

It’s extremely disappointing to see the Braves come up with a loss after an effort like that from the pitching staff–especially one to the Washington Nationals.

Frankly, the team looks atrocious at the plate right now up and down the lineup. Freddie Freeman was the only player with a pulse in the box tonight, tallying a pair of hits in four chances while plating the team’s only run.

I shouldn’t rant too much on the offense, because our own Ben Pace had a nice evaluation of the hitters in today’s column. Be sure to check that out and get really excited about more fireworks tomorrow as the team tries to split the three-game set at 7:05 when Ervin Santana goes up against Jordan Zimmerman.