Atlanta Braves Clippings Thursday, April 30, 2015 Braves.com
Wood, Braves bounced in rubber tilt with Nationals
By Mark Bowman and Jon Cooper / MLB.com | 1:40 AM ET
ATLANTA -- Jordan Zimmermann completed seven innings and aided his own cause with a bases-clearing single that propelled the Nationals to a 13-4 win over the Braves on Wednesday night in the rubber game at Turner Field.
Zimmermann's three-run single capped a four-run fourth inning that gave the Nationals a lead they would not relinquish. A.J. Pierzynski's two-run single in the first inning provided an early lead for Braves starter Alex Wood, who surrendered just two hits through the first three innings.
"The Woody we love to see and the competitiveness was there," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "It was just a lot of pitches and a lot of deep counts."
While Wood was lifted after his pitch count reached 100 through five innings, Zimmermann bounced back from some early-inning struggles and retired eight of the final nine batters he faced, while striking out seven. Danny Espinosa paced the Nationals' offensive attack with his third career four-hit performance and first since 2012.
"[Zimmermann] helped himself out tonight. Any time you see that, that's good," Nats outfielder Denard Span said of the pitcher's big three-run single. "He swung the bat really well tonight. He hit the ball a lot harder than I did against Wood."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Nats' bats awake: The 13-run outburst on Tuesday night was no fluke, as the Nationals again came out swinging on Wednesday. The Nats, who had scored 14 runs during their six-game losing streak, and as many as five runs only once in their previous eight games coming into Tuesday night, totaled 26 runs during the final two games of this series.
Wood falters in fourth: Wood notched four strikeouts through the first two innings and exited the third inning having retired nine of the 11 batters he had faced. But the young left-hander paid the price for pitching around Tuesday night's hero Dan Uggla to load the bases with two outs in the fourth. Zimmermann then got ahead with a 3-0 count before sending a 3-2 fastball to center field to account for his three-run single.
Freeman's red-hot bat: There has not been much for the Braves to celebrate as they have lost seven of their past nine games. But their often maligned offense has benefited from the recent resurgence of Freddie Freeman, who has recorded 10 hits in his last 17 at-bats. Freeman damaged Zimmermann with a first-inning double and a third-inning RBI single that gave the Braves a 3-1 lead.
Jordan keeps his cool: Zimmermann appeared to be on the ropes in the first inning, but he limited the damage to two runs and then settled in on the way to completing a season-high seven innings. He had totaled three career RBIs before notching his three-run single in the fourth.
QUOTABLE "[Zimmermann] got into a rhythm. There is a reason why I think he is their No. 1 [starter]. They just whooped us tonight, that is really all you can say about it." -- Braves third baseman Chris Johnson
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS Washington came into Wednesday's game tied for second in the Majors with San Diego in two-out hits with 71 (only Kansas City had more with 75). The Nats added five more on Wednesday night to drive in eight runs.
WHAT'S NEXT Nationals: Washington begins the final leg of a 10-game, three-city road trip by opening a four-game series with the Mets on Thursday at Citi Field. Right-hander Stephen Strasburg will oppose Mets righty Jacob deGrom at 7:10 p.m. ET. The Nationals lost two of three against New York in the first series of 2015 at Nationals Park.
Braves: Atlanta welcomes the Reds to Turner Field on Thursday at 7:10 p.m. ET. Shelby Miller will oppose Cincinnati's Mike Leake in the opener of a four-game set. Miller has won each of his past three starts. Freeman's red-hot bat a bright spot for Braves
By Mark Bowman / MLB.com | @mlbbowman | 1:00 AM ET
ATLANTA -- Now that Freddie Freeman has entered into one of his hot streaks, the Braves' offense has started to show some life. But Freeman's most recent contributions went for naught as the pitching staff allowed the Nationals to tally 26 runs during the final two games of this week's series at Turner Field.
Still as the Braves exited Wednesday night's 13-4 loss in the rubber game, they could at least be encouraged by the recent production provided by Freeman. Since exiting Saturday in the midst of a 1-for-18 slump, the All-Star first baseman has recorded 10 hits, including four doubles, in his past 17 at-bats.
"I don't think everybody is ever worried about Freddie Freeman," third baseman Chris Johnson said.
Before finding a groove during the latter part of Wednesday's seven-inning effort, Nationals starter Jordan Zimmermann allowed a double to Freeman during a two-run first-inning and an RBI single in the third.
Freeman's recent surge has coincided with the lineup adjustments manager Fredi Gonzalez made on Saturday in Philadelphia. The Braves have tallied at least four runs in each of the five games since Nick Markakis moved into the leadoff spot.
With Markakis and Andrelton Simmons filling the top two spots, there have been more frequent run-producing opportunities for Freeman, who is now batting just ahead of red-hot cleanup hitter A.J. Pierzynski.
Pierzynski has hit safely in each of his first 12 games of the season. The 38-year-old catcher has compiled a .422 batting average through his first 52 plate appearances. He is now in position to become the first Braves player (minimum 50 plate appearances) to exit April with a .400 batting average since Chipper Jones in 2008.
Unfortunately for Freeman and Pierzynski, their recent offensive contributions have been blemished by the 5.64 ERA Atlanta's pitching staff has posted as the club has won just four of its past 14 games.
"It's hard to complain about the way we're scoring runs," Gonzalez said.
Wood pays heavy price in decisive fourth inning
By Mark Bowman / MLB.com | @mlbbowman | 12:20 AM ET
ATLANTA -- It did not take long for the Braves to be burned by the carryover effect that developed when the Nationals erased an early eight-run deficit and completed an incredible comeback victory on Tuesday night, courtesy of Dan Uggla's three-run homer in the ninth.
Had Uggla not recorded a pair of triples and the home run during the previous two nights, Alex Wood might have attacked him the same way he would have any other hitter who has batted .173 since the start of the 2013 season. But with those extra-base hits still fresh in his memory, the young Braves lefty proved cautious with his ex-teammate and ultimately paid the price during the decisive four-run fourth inning the Nationals produced during Wednesday night's 13-4 loss at Turner Field.
After pitching around Uggla to load the bases with a four-pitch walk, Wood fell behind Jordan Zimmermann with a 3-0 count before allowing the Nationals starting pitcher to lace a go-ahead three-run single to center field.
"You throw some pitches around the zone kind of hoping [Uggla] swings at," Wood said. "You're not going to let one of their hitters beat you. So, it was whatever four straight [balls] to him and he walks. Then I don't know if it was a focus thing where you're kind of pitching around him and it carries over to the pitcher, where you get behind 3-0 and you're just in a bad situation."
The Braves certainly aren't in a comfortable situation as they have lost seven of their last nine games. Julio Teheran has labored through each of his past three starts and Wood has not been dominant in any of his first five starts. Consequently, a rotation that was thought to be one of the team's strengths has posted a 5.11 ERA over the 14 games that have followed the club's 8-3 start.
Wood entered Wednesday having totaled just one strikeout during his past two starts. Thus, when he notched a pair of strikeouts during a perfect first inning and then added two more while surrendering a run in the second, it looked like he was primed for an effective outing. But his night began to crumble after Bryce Harper doubled with one out in the fourth inning.
"Mechanically and from a stuff standpoint, I feel that is the best I've been all spring," Wood said. "I was happy with the process, but I was pretty disappointed with the results."
Wood has posted a 4.03 ERA through his first five starts. Though statistics can be misleading at this point of the season, he has not yet looked like he did while producing a 1.92 ERA through his final 11 starts of the 2014 season. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez pulled Wood after he totaled 100 pitches through five innings on Wednesday night.
"That was definitely not the same Woody," Gonzalez said. "It was a good first inning and then he just got into a lot of deep counts."
Braves may turn to Foltynewicz for Friday's start
By Mark Bowman / MLB.com | @mlbbowman | April 29, 2015
ATLANTA -- The Braves have not announced that Mike Foltynewicz will start Friday night's game against the Reds. But they provided a strong indication when they brought Friday's scheduled starter Trevor Cahill out of the bullpen during Wednesday night's 13-4 loss to the Nationals.
Foltynewicz, who ranks as the Braves' second-best pitching prospect according to MLB.com, would be pitching on regular rest and appears to be the logical option to make Friday's start.
But the Braves will wait until Thursday to make this announcement that many of their fans have been eagerly awaiting over the past couple weeks.
This would be the first career start for Foltynewicz. The 23-year-old right-hander has produced a 2.08 ERA through his first four starts with Triple-A Gwinnett. He has surrendered nine hits, allowed three earned runs and notched 18 strikeouts over 13 innings in his past two starts.
When the Braves acquired Foltynewicz from the Astros in January, they initially hoped he would begin this season as their fifth starter. But after evaluating the hard-throwing hurler during Spring Training, the club determined that he needed some additional time at the Minor League level to harness his command and get a better feel for his secondary pitches.
Given that Foltynewicz has completed at least five innings in just two of his four starts, there is reason to argue that he could benefit from some additional seasoning. But as Cahill has extended the struggles he had with the D-backs last year, the Braves have gained reason to attempt to strengthen a starting rotation that has produced a 5.11 ERA over the past 14 games.
Cahill, who surrendered four earned runs in just two innings on Wednesday, might now serve as a long reliever. The Braves agreed to pay $5.5 million of the former All-Star hurler's $12 million salary when they acquired him from the D-backs on March 31.
Along with Cahill, who has posted a 6.52 ERA in 20 starts since the beginning of the 2014 season, this deal also provided the Braves with the 75th overall selection in this year's First-Year Player Draft.
Braves tab 3-0 Miller for opener vs. Reds
By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com | 4/29/2015 4:48 PM ET
CINCINNATI -- The Reds and Braves start a four-game series at Turner Field with a 7:10 p.m. ET opener on Thursday. Shelby Miller will take his 3-0 record to the mound for Atlanta. Cincinnati counters with Mike Leake.
In a 5-2 win over the Phillies on Saturday, Miller threw just 71 pitches over six innings, allowing two runs on three hits. He struck out three and walked two. Leake got a no-decision on Friday against the Cubs after allowing three runs on four hits over seven innings; he fanned nine and walked one.
Things to know about this game:
• In 2014, the Braves won the first five of the seven-game season series, including all three played in Atlanta. The Reds won the final two.
• Leake is 3-2 with a 2.43 ERA in six career starts vs. the Braves. At Turner Field, he is 1-1 with a 2.84 ERA in three starts.
• Miller saw the Reds quite a bit in his brief tenure with the Cardinals. In six starts vs. Cincinnati, he is 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA.
• In the small sample size department, Brandon Phillips has done the best among the Reds vs. Miller, going 6-for-17 with a double and a home run.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Braves quotes after Wednesday’s loss to the Nationals
By David O'Brien - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
**FREDI GONZALEZ On Alex Wood’s start
“Not the same Woody. Good first inning and then just a lot of deep counts. He had 100 pitches in five innings. He battled. The Woody we love to see, the competitiveness, it was there. But (he threw) a lot of pitches, a lot of deep counts.”
On using Trevor Cahill out of the bullpen
“We were a little short in the bullpen and we were thinking he goes a couple innings just to get us through the game.”
Does this open the door for Mike Foltynewicz to take Cahill’s scheduled start on Friday?
“We will wait and make a decision. Sometime tomorrow we will let you guys know. Obviously we are going to need (a starter Friday).”
Did Wood look different early in the game, after getting one strikeout his previous two games and striking out four in first two innings tonight?
“His first three hitters were good, and then they got some deep counts. They fouled some pitches off, and he just couldn’t get through the inning. I didn’t want to run him back out there. I think he had 100 pitches in five innings. Shoot, I was ready to pinch hit in the fourth when we had some people on base. We didn’t get any shutdown (innings). They got four shutdowns and we didn’t get any. That’s probably the ballgame, until (it became a rout at the) end of the game. If you get those shutdowns early in the game then it might be different (relievers) pitching in the back end.”
On losing the series but getting solid offense for most part
“Our offense has been really good. We got eight hits today, 12 runs yesterday. The series is over. We lost the series and now we’ve got the Cincinnati Reds for four games. We’ll see if we can get back on track.
**ALEX WOOD
On whether he felt he had something good going early
“Yeah, mechanically and from a stuff standpoint I felt that’s the best I’ve been all spring. From that standpoint and the process of it, I was happy. Obviously I was disappointed in the result. Usually when I get that early lead is when I thrive. The inning when they got those runs, definitely disappointed from that standpoint.”
On falling behind 3-0 in count with bases loaded to pitcher Jordan Zimmerman before his three-run single
“I don’t think it was to him. You get (Dan) Uggla up with first and second and two outs and you’ve got a pitcher on deck. You throw some pitches you kind of hope he swings at, some pitches around the zone. You are not going to let one of their hitters beat you. So it’s one of those things where four straight (balls or) whatever to him, bases loaded. And then I don’t know if it was a focus thing or you are kind of pitching around him and then it carries over to the pitcher and you are behind 3-0 and then you are just in a bad situation. You work it back to full count, and with one of their other eight guys you might mix in something else there once you work it back to full count. You throw a fastball and play the odds. Zimmerman ended up getting a knock and you’ve got to tip your cap to him. It’s definitely tough on my part.”
**CHRIS JOHNSON
On losing to the Nats and Jordan Zimmermann
“He’s pretty good. There’s a reason why he’s, in my opinion, their No. 1. They just whooped us tonight. That’s really all you can say about it.”
On losing the series, do you come away feeling like you could have easily taken two of three?
“Yeah, but we didn’t. Good teams win those games (Tuesday’s 13-12 loss after 9-1 lead), and we didn’t do that. Shoulda, coulda, woulda, I guess. Had us a chance to win the series tonight, but they put it to us tonight.”
On the rollercoaster nature of this season so far
“Yeah, we try to be consistent and we’re having a tough time being consistent, I think that’s the biggest thing. That’s really it.”
On Freeman being locked in now after that brief slump
“I don’t think anybody’s ever going to worry about Freddie Freeman. He’s going to be around .300 with 20 homers again, so…”
— quotes compiled by Michael Cunningham and David O’Brien
Nationals pound Braves 13-4 to take series
By David O'Brien - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After Dan Uggla stuck a dagger in the Braves with five late-innings RBIs including a three-run homer in the ninth inning to complete an epic comeback and give the Nationals a victory Tuesday, the guy who beat them with his bat Wednesday was an even more improbable source for a three-run hit.
Pitcher Jordan Zimmermann, who had three RBIs in the previous two seasons combined, had a bases-loaded single in the fourth inning against Alex Wood, giving the Nationals a lead they wouldn’t relinquish in a 13-4 victory at Turner Field that clinched the series, two games to one.
After the Braves turned things over to their bullpen in the sixth, it got ugly as Trevor Cahill gave up four runs in two innings and rookie John Cornely gave up four runs in the ninth inning in his major-league debut, including a three-run home run by Denard Span.
“They just whooped us tonight,” Braves third baseman Chris Johnson said. “That’s really all you can say about it.”
The Nationals lost six in a row before rolling up 30 hits and 26 runs while drilling Atlanta in consecutive games, dropping the Braves below .500 (10- 11) for the first time this season. They have lost 11 of 16 since a 5-0 start.
“The series is over,” said manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose Braves have lost three consecutive series, all to National League East teams — the Mets and Phillies on the road, and the Nationals to start a 10-game homestand. “We lost the series and now we’ve got the Cincinnati Reds for four games. We’ll see if we can get back on track.”
Wood (1-1) was charged with six hits and five runs in five innings, with one walk and eight strikeouts. The Braves’ starters ERA climbed to 4.23; there were only three National League teams with starters’ ERAs higher than that before Wednesday.
Trevor Cahill, who is 0-3 with an 8.03 ERA in three starts, had been scheduled to start Friday against Cincinnati, but was brought to relieve in the sixth inning Wednesday and gave up four runs in two innings. It appears likely the Braves will bring up elite pitching prospect Mike Foltynewicz to make his first major-league start Friday against the Reds.
Foltynewicz pitched Sunday at Triple-A Gwinnett, which would put him on normal rest if he were to start Friday against the Reds. He has a 2.08 ERA in four starts at Triple-A Gwinnett, with 30 strikeouts, 10 walks and one homer allowed in 21 2/3 innings.
Gonzalez said the Braves would announce Friday’s starter on Thursday.
Cahill has been wholly unimpressive since the Braves got him in a trade a few days before the end of spring training. The Diamondbacks are paying $6.5 million of his $12 million salary, but that doesn’t do much if anything to mitigate what a disappointment he has been, allowing 21 hits, 16 runs (15 earned) and eight walks with five strikeouts in 14 1/3 innings.
It remains to be seen if there’s any role the Braves would find him suitable in on their pitching staff.
For Wood, it was a night that took a downturn after starting out with much promise.
“Mechanically and from a stuff standpoint, I felt that’s the best I’ve been all spring,” said Wood, who struck out four in the first two innings, after totaling one strikeout in his previous two starts. “From that standpoint and the process of it, I was happy. Obviously I was disappointed in the result.
“Usually when I get that early lead is when I thrive. The inning when they got those runs, definitely disappointed from that standpoint.”
Wood was staked to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on A.J. Pierzynski’s two-run, broken-bat single, which extended the 38-year-old catcher’s hitting streak to 12 games – every game he’s played this season.
Wood had a 3-1 lead until the fourth, when Bryce Harper lined a one-out double off the right-field wall that began a rocky inning for the Braves left-hander.
“Not the same Woody,” Gonzalez said of the outing. “Good first inning and then just a lot of deep counts. He had 100 pitches in five innings. He battled. The Woody we love to see, the competitiveness, it was there. But (he threw) a lot of pitches, a lot of deep counts.”
Ryan Zimmerman followed Harper with a single, a run scoring on Kelly Johnson’s error on the play when he dropped the ball before throwing. One out later, Danny Espinosa singled and Uggla drew a walk to load the bases.
That brought up the pitcher Zimmermann, and Wood fell behind in the count 3-0. Zimmermann took two strikes, then fouled off a pitch before hitting a single to left-center that cleared the bases. With one swing of the pitcher’s bat, the Braves went from leading 3-2 to trailing by two runs.
“I don’t know if it was a focus thing or you are kind of pitching around (Uggla) and then it carries over to the pitcher and you’re behind 3-0 and then you’re just in a bad situation,” Wood said. “You work it back to full count, and with one of their other eight guys you might mix in something else there once you work it back to full count. You throw a fastball and play the odds. Zimmerman ended up getting a knock and you’ve got to tip your cap to him. It’s definitely tough on my part.”
Zimmermann (2-2) allowed eight hits and four runs (three earned) in seven innings, with one walk and seven strikeouts. He improved to 5-2 in 11 career starts against the Braves, including 3-1 with a 2.43 ERA in his past six.
Nationals 13, Braves 4
By David O'Brien - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How the game was won: Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann had a three-run single in a four-run fourth inning against Alex Wood that gave Washington a lead it wouldn’t relinquish in a 13-4 win against the Braves. The Braves, who’ve lost 11 of 16 games since a 5-0 start, blew early leads in losing each of the last two games in the three-game series.
Number: 3 and 8. Extra-base hits and RBIs for Nationals second baseman Dan Uggla in the three-game series. The former Brave, who had two triples and a three-run homer in the series, has two extra-base hits and one RBI in 12 games against everyone else this season.
What’s next: The Braves continue their 10-game homestand with a four-game series against the Reds. Shelby Miller (3-0, 2.05 ERA) faces Reds right-hander Mike Leake (0-1, 3.90) in the series opener Thursday at 7:10 p.m.
Braves ace Teheran says struggles not health-related
By Michael Cunningham - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Yes, Braves right-hander Julio Teheran lately has not looked like an All-Star starter for the Braves or even the promising rookie who immediately established himself as a legitimate major-leaguer in 2013.
No, Teheran insists he is not hurt or otherwise feeling any discomfort. Teheran tweaked his knee while dodging a sharp line drive in an April 11 start against the Mets but said he was fine by the next day.
“If there’s anything wrong with my arm, I wouldn’t want to be out there and do something to make it worse,” Teheran said Wednesday.
It’s not an injury but clearly something is not right with Teheran, the staff ace.
In his last three starts he’s 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA and .333 opponents’ average while allowing 20 hits, 16 runs (12 earned) and seven walks in 15 innings. The Braves gave Teheran an early 9-1 lead against the Nationals on Tuesday and he ended up giving up 10 hits, seven runs (three earned) and two home runs.
That makes six home runs allowed by Teheran in his past three starts. He gave up just 22 home runs in 33 starts last season and 22 in 30 starts in 2013.
Manager Fredi Gonzalez and pitching coach Roger McDowell met with Teheran on Wednesday to review his latest start and Gonzalez said Teheran assured him he’s not hurt. Gonzalez believes Teheran’s issue has been poor pitch selection.
Gonzalez said Teheran threw 41 fastballs on 83 pitches (49.3 percent) against the Nationals, a number he thinks is too low because of Teheran’s command of and variation on his fastballs. Teheran threw fastballs on 48.9 percent of his pitches three starts back against the Blue Jays and 65.7 percent against the Mets last week.
“He manages his fastball, both sides of the plate, elevates it and sinks it and his other stuff is off the fastball,” Gonzalez said. “For whatever reason in the last couple starts he’s doing it the other way around. Tomorrow when he throws his side (session) he’s got to get back to that: four-seam (fastball), two-seam and locate his fastball and pitch off of his fastball.”
Gonzalez said a bright spot from Teheran’s outing on Tuesday was that his velocity was back up to 93 mph after it had dipped to as low as 88 against the Mets.
Teheran said “the ball was flying” against the Blue Jays and he struggled to get a good grip in the cold weather at New York. He said he became predictable against the Nationals because he frequently fell behind in counts.
“I don’t want to get frustrated or look for something that I don’t have, like looking for bad mechanics or something,” Teheran said. “I’m just going to keep working and trying to get better.”
Grilli on Uggla homer on 0-2 fastball: ‘It won’t happen again’
By David O'Brien - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Braves had blown most of their 9-1 second-inning and 10-2 fourth-inning leads Tuesday night, but they still had a two-run lead when closer Jason Grilli went to the mound aiming to convert his eighth save in as many appearances.
But after Grilli gave up a one-out single to Jose Lobaton and walked Danny Espinosa on a close pitch, he gave up a three-run homer to Dan Uggla that felt like a gut punch to the Braves and most of their fans, especially judging from the chorus of boos from the crowd at Turner Field every time Uggla’s name was announced.
“I was trying to go up and in,” Grilli said of the fateful fastball, “but I didn’t get the call on another at-bat, and gave in to, you know, challenge him. It’s one of those games. Teams were just blow for blow. It’s not a game we should have let slip out of our hands.”
Uggla, whose $13.2 million salary is being paid almost entirely by the Braves – making his the highest salary being paid by the Braves to any player this season – also had a two-run triple in the three-run seventh inning Tuesday.
But it was the towering, no-doubt-about-it homer off Grilli that left folks stunned. For one night, at least, it was the Braves’ worst fears realized: the player they released last July, with about $19 million still left on his contract, coming back to beat them while playing for a division rival and still being paid by the Braves.
And he did it by crushing a 0-2 fastball. For Braves fans who’d watched Uggla flail at so many outside breaking balls after getting behind in so many counts over the years, seeing him tee off on a fastball over the plate was cringe-worthy.
“Look at the swing he took on the 0-1 pitch,” Grilli explained. “I tried to go to the same spot again. When a guy misses that bad you don’t speed his bat up (by throwing something other than a fastball). He was looking for it, and it wasn’t in the right spot. It won’t happen again, I guarantee you that. You get me once, but that’s about it.”
Shuffled lineup paying off for Braves
By Michael Cunningham - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez likes the flow of his lineup since he shuffled the order last weekend and put Nick Markakis, Andrelton Simmons, Freddie Freeman and A.J. Pierzynski in the top four slots.
“It’s hard to complain about the way we have been scoring runs,” Gonzalez said.
In the four games with those four at the top half of the order entering Wednesday the Braves had cranked out 39 hits and scored 25 runs. In those games Markakis, Simmons, Freeman and Pierzynski combined to go 19-for-50 (.380) with six walks, 10 RBIs and 15 runs scored.
Previously the general order had been Markakis third, Freeman fourth, Pierzynski fifth and Simmons either seventh or eighth. Gonzalez decided to move Markakis to the top of the order because he’s consistently gotten on base, slotted Simmons into the No. 2 hole because he’s been producing and moved Freeman up a slot.
Pierzynski had been batting fifth when he played but now is the Braves’ hot cleanup hitter. Entering Wednesday he was batting .439 with a .458 on- base percentage, .732 slugging percentage and and 12 RBIs in 11 games
“What makes it flow, too, is my Polish catcher,” Gonzalez said, referring to Pierzynski. “He’s got like a wand. They play him this way, he hits it that way. They play him that way, he hits it this way. It looks easy.”
Gonzalez has been mixing and matching the order behind his top four. The Braves and Rangers are the only teams in the majors who had yet to repeat a lineup entering Wednesday’s games, with 20 different combinations in 20 games. The Giants, Brewers and Blue Jays each had used 20 different lineups in 21 games played.
Among that group, the Braves were the only team with a .500 or better record entering Wednesday. The Blue Jays ranked first in the majors in runs per game (5.52) and the Braves were 12th (4.45) but the other three teams ranked 24th or worse.
Braves’ 13-12 loss, and Nationals’ epic comeback, were rarities
By David O'Brien - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
If it seemed like the Nationals’ comeback from 9-1 and 10-2 early innings deficits to win 13-12 on Dan Uggla’s three-run homer in the ninth Tuesday night was the kind of thing you don’t see every day, or every decade, well, it’s because it was. It was the largest comeback in the 11-year Washington Nationals history, and the first time they gave up 11 runs or more and won. It was only the third time in overall franchise history (Expos and Nationals) that the team came back from a deficit as large as eight runs to win.
For the Braves, it was just the fifth time in their long franchise history that they lost a game after leading by at least eight runs. The others were in 1933, 1970, 1992 and 2010.
It was first time in nearly two decades that the Braves lost a game in which they scored at least 12 runs. The other time was also by a 13-12 score at Colorado in 1996, but the Braves came back from a 7-3 first-inning deficit before falling short in that game.
Also, Uggla’s homer on an 0-2 pitch from Jason Grilli made the former Braves second baseman just the third player in three seasons to hit a “behind to ahead” homer after the eighth inning on an 0-2 count. Dexter Fowler did it to beat the Rockies at Colorado on April 12, and Adam Dunn did it to beat the Yankees on May 23, 2014.
Teheran struggles troubling; Uggla grills Braves
By David O’Brien
After one of the worst losses in recent memory for the Braves, a 13-12 defeat Tuesday against the Dan Uggla-led Nationals – yes, for one night at least that was the case — in a game that Atlanta led 9-1 afer two innings, let’s start with the obvious: Julio Teheran hasn’t had a troubling stretch like this since his emergence as a bonafide front-end starter as a rookie in 2013.
Amplifiying the concerns a bit is the fact that he insists he isn’t having any health issues whatsoever and doesn’t really know what’s causing his location issues. Tough to fix it if they don’t know where to start, right?
He’s 0-1 with a 7.20 ERA and .333 opponents’ average in his past three starts, allowing 20 hits, 16 runs (12 earned) and seven walks with 13 strikeouts in 15 innings against the Blue Jays, Mets and Nationals. Last night, he was staked to an 9-1 lead after two innings and gave up 10 hits and seven runs (three earned) and two homers, making it six homers allowed in his past three starts.
I asked Fredi Gonzalez after the game, are you concerned with Teheran? And his answer was far more candid than usual when it comes to matters like this.
“I am a little bit (concerned),” he said. “Because that’s not him. He’s usually a guy you give him a lead, he’s a bulldog and you have to go try to get the ball out of his hand in the eighth inning with a 12-run lead. So yeah, I’m a little concerned. Lot of home runs. I think the stuff is there, the miles per hour is there, but the location is not … and I’m just looking from the side of the field, I’ll look at the (video) tomorrow morning, but it looks like they had some pretty good swings all night at him, in all kinds of different counts. I think it’s more location than it is stuff-wise.”
Veteran catcher A.J. Pierzysnki, who had four hits, four RBIs, a sac fly and a walk in six plate appearances, said after the game: “To score 12 runs and to lose is hard to fathom with our opening-day guy on the mound. Go up 9-1 in the second inning, I mean, we’re supposed to win. Give them credit, they just kept coming back and chipping away. And Unfortunately in the ninth inning, we made a mistake to Uggla and he didn’t miss it. It just sucks. There’s no other way to put it. Just sucks.”
Of Teheran’s issues, Pierzysnki said: “I don’t know. He’s throwing all his pitches, he’s throwing strikes. I don’t know, you’d have to ask Roger (McDowell) and those guys. I don’t know. I don’t have an answer on that one. The New York start (five early walks), it looked like he was just cold in the first inning. Once he got through the first inning he was OK. But tonight, he was just a little bit off. I don’t know what he said, I don’t know what Roger said, I don’t know, I haven’t looked at anything yet. Tomorrow I’ll come in and look at it, and try to figure something out with him.”
• Uncharacteristic pitching: Atlanta pitchers are now tied with the White Sox for 27th in the majors in strikeouts with 130, and Braves starters have a majors-low 66 strikeouts with 44 walks. Ten teams have 105 or more strikeouts from their starting pitchers.
The Atlanta starters’ ERA has risen to 10th in the National League at 4.01, and the starters have issued the third-most walks among NL teams (44) while pitching the second-fewest innings (107 2/3), ahead of only the Rockies (105 2/3). That’s a bad combination for everyone concerned, including the weary bullpen.
• Grilli home and road: Speaking of the bullpen, Jason Grilli hadn’t pitched since Saturday, so fatigue presumably wasn’t an issue. But he was pitching at Turner Field, and for the second time in a row that didn’t work out well at all.
Grilli has been literally perfect in five road appearances, with hitters going 0-for-15 with seven strikeouts against him. But in three home appearances, he has a 12.00 ERA and .357 opponents’ average, allowing five hits, four runs and three walks with six strikeouts in three innings.
In his last home appearance before Tuesday, on April 13 against the Marlins, he gave up two hits, a run and a walk in one inning, but had three strikeouts and converted the save. He had seven saves in seven appearances before getting his first blown save as a Brave on Tuesday.
• Oh, Uggla: The guy the Braves are paying at least $12.7 million this season returned to Atlanta last night, and the nightmare scenario unfolded. The one that Braves fans – and surely Braves officials – at least feared a little when Uggla signed with the Nats this winter amid reports of improved vision (Here’s the story I wrote on that in spring training.) Triple, three-run homer off Grilli in the ninth inning, five RBIs for Uggla in a 13-12 Nationals comeback win. Oh, my.
Uggla’s homer was his 52nd extra-base hit and 24th homer in 91 career games against the Braves. He’s hit .291 with a .347 OBP and .577 slugging percentage against the Braves, his highest BA and slugging percentage vs. any team against whom he’s played more than 10 games.
And perhaps his two-game performance against them this week saved his job, at least for a while — the Nats were reportedly leaning toward releasing him soon, once they got healthy. Might be tought to do that in the immediate aftermath of last night.
However, it must be noted: Uggla is 4-for-7 with six RBIs, two triples and a homer in the past two nights for the Nationals, while he’s 4-for-35 (.114) with no homers and one RBI in 12 games against everyone else.
Of Uggla’s 91 games vs. the Braves, the other 89 came when he was with the Marlins hitting more than 30 homers a season, long before his precipitous decline with the Braves.
Among the Nationals, the next-higher homer total against the Braves belongs to Ryan Zimmerman, who has 19 against them and has 52 more games played (143) and nearly 200 more at-bats against the Braves than Uggla does. Jayson Werth? He’s hit .271 with 16 homers and 58 RBIs in 127 career games against the Braves.
The only other current National with more than nine homers against the Braves is Ian Desmond, who’s hit .220 with 15 homers in 97 games and 378 at-bats against them.
• Freeman vs. Nats: Nevermind the Mets, the team that’s really felt the wrath of Freddie Freeman is the Nationals. With his four-hit game Tuesday, Freeman raised his career slash line to .335 with a .384 OBP and .509 slugging percentage in 75 games against the Nationals, with 29 extra-base hits (nine homers) and 42 RBIs.
The power numbers and RBIs don’t match what he’s done against the Mets – 14 homers, 60 RBIs, .526 slugging percentage – but the batting average is a whopping 36 points higher and the OBP is 12 points higher. And in the past few years, he’s absolutely punished the Nationals.
Look at these numbers: In his past 50 games against Washington, Freeman has hit .391 (75-for-192) with 25 extra-base hits (eight homers), 33 RBIs, and a .436 OBP and .609 slugging percentage. The Braves are 29-21 in those games.
And in his past 26 games, going back to Aug. 17, 2013, he’s ramped it up even more: .413 (43-for-104) with nine doubles, five homers, .453 OBP and .644 slugging percentage. The Braves are 14-12 in those games.
• Off my lawn: A.J. Pierzynski is ridiculous hot right now, for any player much less a 38-year-old catcher. He’s batting .439 overall with a .458 OBP and .732 slugging percentage, three homers and 12 RBIs in 11 games, and would rank at or near the top in several categories in the NL if he had enough PAs to qualify.
Pierzynski is 12-for-21 (.571) with seven RBis in his six games, and has a BA that’s 33 points higher than his OBP in that stretch due to three sac flies and only two walks (he has no strikeouts in that period).
Pierzysnki’s hitting has overshadowed the Braves’ big offseason addition’s own impressive stretch at the plate.
Nick Markakis has hit .329 with a .440 OBP in 19 games, and in his past 13 games he’s 18-for-46 (.391) with three doubles and a .517 OBP, having walked three times as many times (12) as he’s struck out in that period.
He’s not hitting for power, but Markakis has been an OBP machine, and the move back to leadoff last weekend was a smart one on a team whose only guys with prototypical leadoff-type speed – outfielders Eric Young Jr. and Cameron Maybin – simply don’t get on base enough to occupy the leadoff spot.
• Tonight’s matchup: It’s Alex Wood (1-0, 3.00) vs. the Nats’ Jordan Zimmermann (1-2, 5.23) in the rubber game of the series.
Wood is the guy the Braves want in this situation: He has a three-start winning streak against the Nats and is 3-1 with a 1.49 ERA and .237 opponents’ average in six career starts against them, with 44 strikeouts and nine walks in 36 1/3 innings.
Wood has allowed one or no earned runs in all but one of his starts against Washington, and gave up two earned runs in seven innings of the other game – April 6, 2014 at D.C., his only loss to the Nationals and the only time the Braves lost to the Nationals in a game started by Wood.
In three starts against them since that game, he’s 3-0 with a 1.47 ERA, with 28 strikeouts and seven walks in 18 1/3 innings. He allowed one run in each of those games, each time on a solo homer.
The Nats’ best hitter against Wood, Anthony Rendon, is still rehabbing and out of the lineup. He’s 8-for-13 with a homer against the lefty. Ian Desmond is 3-for-13 with two homers against Wood, Jayson Werth is 4-for-9, and Bryce Harper is 3-for-8.
Wood is 1-0 with a 2.60 ERA in three road starts this seaon, while he has a 4.05 ERA and no decision in his only home start against the Mets, allowing eight hits, three runs and homer in 6 2/3 innings of that April 12 loss. The Braves have lost his past three starts, including two road games at Toronto and Philly in which he allowed a total of three runs in 12 1/3 innings. The Braves lose 1-0 at Philly on Friday when Wood pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings and allowed five hits and two walks in 101 pitches.
Against Zimmermann, left-handed hitters are 13-for-34 (.382) with a .432 OBP and two doubles, while righties are 11-for-49 (.229) with a .283 OBP and one extra-base hit (homer).
Zimmerman has allowed an uncharacteristically high .289 opponents’ average and an OBP (.344) almost as high as his opponents’ slugging (.349), but most of the damage came in one start at Boston on April 13. He allowed nine hits and eight runs (seven earned) in 2 1/3 innings of that start, and has given up two or fewer earned runs in six or more innings in each of his other three starts this season.
The Nationals scored two or fewer runs while he was in those three quality starts, hence his 1-1 record in those games.
Zimmermann has long given the Braves fits, unlike rotation mate Stephen Strasburg, whom the Braves didn’t face in this series. Zimmermann is 4-2 with a 2.93 ERA in 10 starts against the Braves, including 2-1 with a 2.10 ERA in five since the beginning of the 2013 season. He gave up two or fewer runs in all five of those games while collecting 35 strikeouts and only four walks in 30 innings.
Freddie Freeman is 6-for-19 against him, while Chris Johnson is 4-for-15, Nick Markakis is 3-for-12 with a homer, Andrelton Simmons is 3-for-12, Eric Young Jr. is 3-for-16, and Cameron Maybin is 1-for-8.
Braves business update: Hotel deal matches Cowboys’
By Tim Tucker - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A weekly update on the business of the Braves:
Hotel deal: The Braves’ 50-50 partnership with Omni Hotels & Resorts on a luxury hotel overlooking SunTrust Park, announced this week, mirrors a deal the Dallas Cowboys struck last year.
The Cowboys and Omni are partnering to build a 300-room hotel at the team’s new practice facility, corporate headquarters and mixed-use development under construction in Frisco, Texas. That hotel is slated to open in 2017, the same year as the Braves’ 260-room hotel.
Omni also has a hotel that is connected to the San Diego Padres’ Petco Park by a pedestrian skybridge, although that hotel isn’t a joint venture with the team.
Omni Hotels president Mike Deitemeyer expects exterior construction on the SunTrust Park hotel to be completed when the Cobb County stadium opens in April 2017. But he doesn’t expect the interior to be ready for guests until fall of that year — around World Series time.
Getting there: As the Braves continue to roll out SunTrust Park announcements, the team still has revealed few details about how transportation and parking concerns will be addressed.
“There’s no question that transportation is a big issue with us. We are working hard to solve it, as is Cobb County and the DOT,” Braves chairman and CEO Terry McGuirk said this week.
“We’re two years away from opening the park, so we’ve got time. We’re working on the parking issue every day … We’re very sure that the day we open up this ballpark, we will have parking taken care of.”
McGuirk said the shops and restaurants in the adjacent mixed-use complex will change traffic patterns for games: “People are going to spread out their arrival and departure times dramatically differently than the way they’re using the ballpark today.”
Quotable: After the news conference on the Omni deal, someone asked McGuirk what he will do if Freddie Freeman breaks hotel windows with long home runs to right-center field.
“Give him a bonus,” McGuirk said.
ON THE BEAT
By Staff
The Reds
With a rotation including All-Star Johnny Cueto and emerging star Anthony DeSclafani to pair with fire-balling closer Aroldis Chapman, the Reds would seem to have enough pitching to make a run at October this season. Through 21 games, Cincinnati starters allowed a mere .228 batting average, the lowest in the National League. So why do the Reds hit town for this weekend’s four-game series with the Braves below .500 (10-11)? How about that bullpen?
Reds’ relievers have a 5.86 ERA, worst in the majors with four blown saves in nine opportunities. It was right-hander Jumbo Diaz’s turn against the Brewers on Wednesday, serving up a Ryan Braun grand slam in a five-run eighth and turning a one-run game into a 8-3 loss.
From AJC.com
Dan Uggla entered this series at Turner Field not knowing if he’d be in the major leagues next week. He’s considered the Washington National most apt to be cut — DFA’ed, which in MLB-speak means “designated for assignment” — when Anthony Rendon returns from a rehab stint in Class Double-A. Uggla entered the series looking exactly like the Dan Uggla we’d come to know too well: He was hitting .114 with one RBI and two extra- base hits.
On Monday, Uggla was thrust into the game only because Yunel Escobar, once a Brave himself, was spiked by Andrelton Simmons. Uggla’s appearance drew boos from the small Turner Field gathering — Chipper Jones would take to Twitter, as Chipper Jones often does, to chastise those fans for their response — and his first at-bat was vintage Uggla, at least as we around here remember Uggla. He struck out looking.
In his next at-bat, Uggla tripled to right field to score Bryce Harper and then, when third baseman Alberto Callaspo couldn’t glove the throw, scored himself. Such an opponent-aided circuit is known as a Little League home run and the thought occurred that it might have been the last big-league home run of any sort Uggla would ever have. But no.
One night later, Uggla — starting because Escobar couldn’t — hit another triple to draw the Nats, who’d trailed 9-1 and 10-2, within 11-10. In 1,701 at-bats as a Brave, Uggla had managed four triples. Now he’d had two in 24 hours. This was getting weird.
Then it got off-the-chart crazy. Down 0-2 in the count against Braves closer Jason Grilli, with one out in the ninth and the Nats trailing 12-10, Uggla hoisted a three-run homer with one out in the ninth that made his latest team an astonishing winner. In two nights as a Turner Field visitor, Uggla had collected three extra-base hits and six RBIs. In the 141 at-bats before the Braves DFA’ed him last summer, he’d managed five extra-base hits and 10 RBIs.
— Mark Bradley
The odds
From ESPN Stats & Information: Over the past five seasons through Tuesday night, teams that held an eight-run lead had gone 1,031-5.
They said it
“There are a lot of guys that I can think of on their club that could ignite them and get them turned around. I never thought it would be that guy.” — Braves TV analyst Joe Simpson on Uggla’s homer.
At the beginning of Braves fever
By I.J. Rosenberg - For the AJC
Walk into the office of Braves public relations director Jim Schultz in 1995 and the first thing you would notice was a large stack of phone messages. Asked some 20 years later if he ever was able to get the pile down to a manageable size, Schultz laughed and said, “We did what we could.’’
In that world championship season, Schultz and his staff may have been the busiest in the team’s front office, a media storm that started with the worst-to-first finish in ’91. Well-liked by everyone in the organization and able to keep his cool during a time when others baseball PR directors didn’t have a problem getting in the face of a reporter publicly.
No one who was at Three Rivers Stadium in the 1991 playoffs will forget the time the Pittsburgh Pirates PR director marched into the Braves TV booth and took Skip Caray to task for criticizing the city for the lack of fans in the ballpark. But Schultz, now 71, handled the issues he had with the media behind closed doors.
He still lives in Fayetteville with his wife, Connie, and has six grandchildren with another one due in May. He works for Fayette Senior Services, driving senior citizens to medical appointments.
Schultz spent 15 years as the team’s PR chief, retiring from the Braves in 2003. He always has been a familiar face around the sports scene in Atlanta as earlier in his career he worked for the Hawks, Georgia Tech, The Westminster Schools and even moved to New York in 1979 to work for Inside Sports Magazine. Schultz actually got his start with the Braves in 1972 as an assistant to PR maven Bob Hope.
Q: How exhausting was the media? A: When I think of ’91, it was pretty crazy. As bad as the team was in the late 1980s and in 1990, there was mediocre media interest at best. But by midseason, that had all changed and we had become the biggest story in the Southeast, and by the end of the season, all of baseball. Let’s just say the phone never stopped.
Q: The ’95 season didn’t get off to a good start, with the major-league players on strike a group of replacement players at spring training in West Palm Beach and then the murder of one of them. How tough was that spring?
A: It was a brutal and none of the PR directors knew what to do with getting the media guides out. We just did temporary ones and hope that they would only be temporary. But the other thing that happened, that made the replacement-player issue minor, was the death of David Shotkoski. That was horrible.
Q: Where were you when the last out of the ’95 World Series dropped into the glove of center fielder Marquis Grissom and Atlanta has its first world title?
A: I was down in the clubhouse because (assistant) Glen (Serra) and I would always go down about an inning early. We would get things ready for the media. I think we went down right before the ninth inning of that game, and I was able to catch the inning on the clubhouse TV. I will always remember Grissom circling that ball.
Series preview: Braves vs. Reds
By Carroll Rogers - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
NEXT: VS. CINCINNATI REDS
Thursday
Time: 7:10 p.m.
TV: SPSO
Probable starting pitchers: Braves RH Shelby Miller (3-0, 2.05) vs. RH Mike Leake (0-1, 3.90)
Comment: Miller has been a steadying force on the Braves’ rotation, allowing two or fewer runs in each of his four starts and worked up to six innings in each of the past two. He’s the most likely Braves pitcher to start working into the seventh and eighth and give the bullpen a needed break. Leake gave up only nine earned runs in 22 innings in his past three starts (3.68), but the Reds lost all three.
Friday
Time: 7:35 p.m.
TV: FSSO
Probable starting pitchers: Braves RH Trevor Cahill (0-3, 8.03) vs. RH Anthony DeSclafani (2-1, 1.04)
Comment: Who had DeSclafani as the Reds’ ERA leader? Who had him as the National League’s ERA leader? Well, now you know. The Reds’ return from Miami in the Mat Latos trade has allowed only three earned runs in 26 innings over his first four starts with the Reds. The 25-year-old from New Jersey made his first five major league starts last year for the Marlins, and another eight appearances in relief, but never faced the Braves. The Braves are winless in three starts by Cahill, their fifth starter.
Saturday
Time: 7:10 p.m.
TV: Fox Sports 1
Probable starting pitchers: Braves LH Eric Stults (1-1, 4.03) vs. RH Jason Marquis (2-1, 5.48)
Comment: After giving up three home runs in his first two outings with the Braves, Stults has settled into a rhythm in his past two. He’s given up only three runs in 12 1/3 innings in those games and is coming off his first win as a Brave in the series opener Monday against the Nationals. The former Brave Marquis is pitching for his ninth team in 14 major league seasons.
Sunday
Time: 1:35 p.m. TV: FSSO
Probable starting pitchers: Braves RH Julio Teheran (2-1, 4.67) vs. RH Johnny Cueto (2-2, 1.95)
Comment: Teheran has pitched anything like an ace in his past three starts, getting beat on a barrage of homers, then walks, and then failing to keep the Nationals in check after leading 9-1. He said his knee is not an issue, which he tweaked four starts ago, coincidentally, but his results are raising questions. Teheran got the better of Cueto in a Braves 1-0 win after each pitched eight shutout innings this time a year ago (April 27, 2014). Teheran is not exactly in that kind of groove right now.
Fox Sports South
Three Cuts: Nationals bombard Braves with 13 runs ... again
Knox Bardeen
ATLANTA -- For the second night in a row the Nationals scored 13 runs on the Braves. This time Atlanta couldn't come close to keeping up. Washington laced 15 hits to score 13 runs on Wednesday, just one day after beating the Braves 13-12.
The Nationals scored 26 runs in two games against the Braves (13 per contest) after scoring just 69 runs in their first 20 (3.45 per game). They took the series from Atlanta two games to one.
Here are three observations from Atlanta's 13-4 loss to Washington:
1. AFTER GETTING ROUGHED UP, WOOD SAID HE FELT GOOD ABOUT CERTAIN ASPECTS OF HIS START
The last time Alex Wood gave up more than three earned runs in a start was July 25 last season against the Padres. Between that game and Wednesday's, Wood had made 15 starts without allowing more than three earned.
Over than span -- the time frame included his last 11 appearances of 2014 and the first four of this season -- Wood sported a 2.18 ERA and allowed just 82 hits in 99 innings of work while striking out 88 batters.
But the Nationals touched Wood up on Wednesday. They scored a run in the second inning and then four more in the fourth. Even though he only gave up six hits and struck out eight batters, they plated five with Bryce Harper doing the most damage with two hits and two runs scored.
While the number looked bad, Wood said he felt good.
"Mechanically, and from a stuff standpoint, that's the best I've been all spring," said Wood. "From that standpoint, and the process of it, I was happy, but pretty disappointed in the result. Usually when you get that early lead that's usually when I thrive. The inning where they got those runs, it was definitely disappointing."
Wood said he pitched to Jordan Zimmerman differently in the four-run fourth inning than he would have had he not been facing the opposing pitcher. Wood walked Dan Uggla on four pitches as he tried to make the former Brave swing at a bad pitch. With the bases loaded to Zimmerman and a 3-0 count, Wood battled back with two strikes.
"You work it back to full count and it's one of those things where [if] that's one of their other eight guys you might mix in something else there once you work it back to full count," said Wood. "But [to the pitcher] you throw the fastball and play the odds. Zimmerman ended up getting a knock and you have to tip your cap to him."
Zimmerman's single scored three runs and effectively ran Wood from the game. Wood threw 100 pitches and his record went to 1-1 on the season with a 4.03 ERA.
2. THE BRAVES WILL BE GETTING A NEW PITCHER ON FRIDAY
When Wood left the game after just five innings of work, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez sent a reliever to the mound that was a bit unusual. Trevor Cahill entered the game in the sixth inning and made his first relief appearance of the season.
As odd as it was for Cahill to be pitching in relief, it was made even stranger because he was supposed to be on the mound Friday as the Braves' starter. After throwing two innings -- he allowed four earned runs and gave up six hits -- he won't make his scheduled start to begin the weekend.
Who will?
Gonzalez wouldn't tip his hand, but acknowledged that someone would have to be promoted from Triple-A Gwinnett.
"We'll wait and probably make a decision on Thursday," said the Braves skipper on a starting pitcher for Friday's game versus the Reds. "Some time tomorrow we'll let you guys know who's going to pitch on Friday. Obviously we're going to need one." The odds-on favorite is Mike Foltynewicz, who has a 2.08 ERA in four starts with Gwinnett. He has 30 strikeouts in 21 2/3 innings and 10 walks. He is scheduled to pitch for Gwinnett on Friday, so moving down to Turner Field instead of Triple-A would only change locale, it wouldn't affect his days of rest or routine at all.
3. ATLANTA ISN'T HAVING TROUBLE AT THE PLATE
Contrary to popular belief prior to the season, it's not the Braves' bats that are causing strife early on, it's the pitching.
Atlanta scored four runs on eight hits Wednesday, and that was a day after scoring 12 runs on 17 hits. In the first game of the series, the Braves won with eight runs on 13 hits. When a team scores 24 runs on 38 hits over three games (an average of eight runs per game and 12.7 hits), you'd expect them to take most series.
That wasn't the case as the Nationals took two of three from the Braves.
Catcher A.J. Pierzynski stayed hot with a 1-for-4 showing with two RBI. With that hit he extended a hitting streak to 12 games. Since he's played in just 12 games this year, that means he's hit safely in every game he's played in 2015.
Pierzynski's batting average actually fell on Wednesday to .422. But don't confuse that drop in a cooling off period. Over his last 30 plate appearances (seven games), he's 13 for 25 (.520) with three doubles and nine RBI.
Freddie Freeman went 2 for 4 in the loss and extended a streak of his own. He's now had multiple hits in four straight games. Freeman is hitting 10 for 17 (.588) with four doubles during the span.
Marietta Daily Journal
‘World-class, four-star’
By Ricky Leroux
CUMBERLAND — The Atlanta Braves and Dallas-based Omni Hotels & Resorts announced a 50-50 partnership Tuesday for a 16-floor, 260-room hotel overlooking the new SunTrust Park in Cumberland.
At a news conference announcing the partnership Tuesday, Omni officials said the hotel would also include rooftop hospitality suites, about 12,500 square feet of meeting space, a two-story restaurant and an elevated pool deck and bar overlooking the new ballpark.
Braves Chairman and CEO Terry McGuirk described the planned hotel as a “world-class, four-star, full-service” establishment. McGuirk said he expects construction of the hotel, and most of the rest of the mixed-use development, to be complete by Opening Day 2017, but there might be some interior work left to do before guests can stay the night.
“Completing everything where it’s fully occupiable, that’ll be sort of a bang-bang play,” McGuirk said. “Things may take a little longer, but our goal is to just have all the buildings done and have everything ready to be worked on at the very least — putting in furniture and that kind of thing.”
Mike Deitemeyer, president of Omni Hotels & Resorts, said the facade of the building will be complete by SunTrust Park’s first pitch, but the interior will not.
“Visually, we’ll try to have all the cranes off and have everything done outside,” Deitemeyer said. “We’ll get as close to complete as possible, but we’ll be working actively inside.”
Omni operates 60 hotels in North America, and Bob Rowling, chairman and CEO of Omni owner TRT Holdings, said the company strives to make each of its hotels unique.
“We try to build to the community. This hotel will be designed specifically to fit in with this development. Our hotels — every one of them is different. Every one of them we try to capture the flavor of what’s going on.”
This isn’t the first project Omni has taken on near a professional sports stadium. Rowling said the company’s San Diego hotel has a walkway leading to Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres, and has recently entered into a partnership with the Dallas Cowboys to build a 300-room hotel in the Dallas Cowboys’ new mixed-use development in Frisco, Texas, where the team’s new training complex will also be located.
The new hotel would be Omni’s second in Georgia: It operates the Omni Atlanta Hotel at the CNN Center, which has more than 1,000 rooms.
Rowling said the Cumberland hotel, which will be known as The Omni Atlanta Northwest Hotel, is still in the early stages of development, but he expects visitors will be excited by the final product.
“You’ll see a hotel here that’s not only beautiful aesthetically, but you’ll see the service that is four-star, four-diamond, and the guests will have a great experience,” Rowling said.
Deitemeyer said the number of rooms in the hotel could change as the design becomes finalized.
“As you go through the architecture, you may end up with a few more or a few less, but (260 rooms is) the target,” he said.
McGuirk said he’s known Rowling, owner of TRT Holdings, for years and because of the type of development the Braves are planning, Omni was the first hotel company he approached.
“We wanted to be at the very high end, which Cobb County really hasn’t seen before at the four-star level,” McGuirk said. “Because of my friendship with Bob, he was the first person I sought out to talk about it, and, at that point, this was all new to him, to have a hotel here. But the more he and his team learned about it, the more excited they got.”
The announcement comes about a month after the Braves announced Philadelphia-based Comcast would be the sole occupant of the nine-story office building also planned for the $452-million mixed-use development. McGuirk said Tuesday the Comcast partnership “will give us the most technologically advanced ballpark in the world.”
McGuirk said gathering these big-name businesses around the new stadium is a “major tipping point” for the Cumberland area.
“This is the beginning,” he said. “These are the kind of partners that we want to have to make this best in class in every possible way, and we’re not going really to be satisfied with less.”
The Sports Xchange
Nationals slug Braves 13-4
By Stan Awtrey
ATLANTA — Right-hander Jordan Zimmermann pitched seven effective innings and produced a momentum-changing three-run single to spark the Washington Nationals to a 13-4 win over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday at Turner Field.
Zimmermann (2-2) pitched seven innings, his longest stint of the year, and allowed four runs, three earned, on eight hits and one walk. He had a season-high seven strikeouts.
But Zimmermann’s most important contribution may have come at the plate. With the bases loaded in the fourth inning, Zimmermann served a 3-2 pitch into left-center field that drove in three runs and gave the Nationals a 5-3 lead they never relinquished.
Matt Grace pitched a scoreless eighth and Aaron Barrett threw a scoreless ninth to help the Nationals win the final two games of the three-game series.
Third baseman Danny Espinosa had four hits and two RBIs for Washington, which had 15 hits. Espinosa had seven hits in the series.
Atlanta starter Alex Wood (1-1) took the loss. In five innings he allowed five runs, six hits and one walk, with six strikeouts. Reliever Trevor Cahill allowed the game to get away when he allowed four runs on six hits in two innings.
Atlanta scored twice in the first inning when catcher A.J. Pierzynski extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a bloop single that drove in right fielder Nick Markakis and first baseman Freddie Freeman.
The Nationals got a run back in the second. Catcher Wilson Ramos singled home right fielder Bryce Harper.
Atlanta took a 3-1 lead with a run in the third. Shortstop Andrelton Simmons hit into what appeared to be an inning-ending double play, but second baseman Dan Uggla’s throw bounced off first baseman Ryan Zimmerman and rolled into shallow right field. That allowed Simmons to advance to second base, where he scored on an opposite-field single by Freeman.
Washington scored four runs in the fourth. The key hit came from Zimmermann, a career .171 hitter who slapped a bases-loaded single to left- center field to drive home three runs. It was the first hit and first RBIs of the season for Zimmermann.
The Braves trimmed the lead to 5-4 with a run in the fifth when Markakis hit into a double play that scored center fielder Eric Young Jr.
Washington scored once in the sixth inning. Ramos singled and scored on Uggla’s infield grounder.
The Nationals added three more in the seventh on an RBI single by left fielder Jayson Werth and a two-run single by Espinosa. Washington scored four times in the ninth off rookie John Cornely, who was making his major league debut. The Nationals got an RBI single from Uggla and a three-run homer from center fielder Denard Span, his second.
NOTES: The Nationals placed OF Reed Johnson (left calf strain) on the 15-day disabled list and optioned RHP A.J. Cole to Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday. Washington recalled LHP Sammy Solis from Double-A Harrisburg and OF Michael Taylor from Syracuse. Solis is the fifth rookie to debut for the Nationals this spring. Taylor was on the Opening Day roster but optioned to Syracuse when OF Denard Span returned from the DL. … The Braves open a four-game homestand with Cincinnati on Thursday. RHP Shelby Miller (3-0, 2.05 ERA) starts the opener against Cincinnati RHP Mike Leake (0-1, 3.90). … The Nationals begin a four-game series in New York on Thursday, with RHP Stephen Strasburg (1-2, 4.88) going against Mets RHP Jacob deGrom (2-2, 2.96).
Associated Press
Zimmermann does it all to help Nationals win 2nd straight
By GEORGE HENRY (Associated Press)
ATLANTA (AP) -- Now that the Washington Nationals have woken up their offense, Bryce Harper believes his team is ready to put it all together.
''We're having great at-bats, we're going up there with confidence and we're a great team,'' Harper said. ''It's a matter of time. I think we have a lot of confidence in everybody on this club. We're going to have some fun.''
Jordan Zimmermann won for the first time in four starts and hit a three-run single to help Washington beat the Atlanta Braves 13-4 on Wednesday night.
Denard Span, who had five hits the previous night, added a three-run homer in the ninth. The Nationals banged out 15 hits again, giving them 30 hits and 26 runs scored over the last two games.
The biggest swing in this one belonged to their starting pitcher. In 264 career at-bats over seven seasons, Zimmermann had just 12 RBIs, but his bases-loaded single in the four-run fourth inning gave Washington the lead for good.
With one swing, Zimmerman matched his RBI total from the previous two seasons.
''I was just trying to put the ball in play,'' Zimmerman said. ''Thankfully, I got something down the middle and put a good swing on it.''
On the mound, Zimmermann (2-2) gave up eight hits, one walk and four runs - three earned - with seven strikeouts in seven innings.
Washington has won two straight after dropping six in a row. Atlanta has lost seven of nine.
Braves starter Alex Wood (1-1) allowed six hits and five runs, striking out eight in five innings. The left-hander had gone 15 straight starts without allowing more than three earned runs and had a 2.18 ERA over that span since last July 30 at the Los Angeles Dodgers.
''Usually when I get that early lead, I thrive,'' Wood said. ''When they got those runs, that was disappointing.''
Washington cut the lead to 2-1 in the second on Wilson Ramos' RBI single, but the Nationals took a 5-3 lead in the fourth.
Harper doubled and scored from second when left fielder Kelly Johnson bobbled Ryan Zimmerman's single. After Danny Espinosa singled and Uggla walked, Zimmermann cleared the bases with a single into the gap in left-center.
Trevor Cahill replaced Wood, giving up Uggla's RBI groundout in the sixth and Jayson Werth's RBI single and Espinosa's two-run single in the seventh to make it 9-4.
In the ninth, Uggla had an RBI single and Span added his second homer, a three-run shot off John Cornely, who made his major league debut, to put the Nationals up 13-4.
''We definitely needed to wake our bats up the last two games,'' Span said. ''It's fun when guys are putting good swings on the ball. The whole cliche that hitting is contagious - I think the one last night was a good one to carry over to today.''
The Braves went up 2-0 in the first on A.J. Pierzynski's two-run double and 3-1 in the third on Freddie Freeman's RBI single. Atlanta cut the lead to 5-4 in the fifth when Eric Young Jr. scored on Nick Markakis' double-play grounder.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Nationals: RHP Max Scherzer will to the rotation Friday at the New York Mets after missing his scheduled start Tuesday with a sprained right thumb. .. OF Reed Johnson was placed on the 15-day disabled list with an injured left leg. Michael Taylor, recalled from Triple-A Syracuse earlier in the day, took his place on the roster. ... Manager Matt Williams said that 3B Anthony Rendon, on a rehab assignment with Double-A Harrisburg, was out of the lineup for the fourth straight day with soreness in his side.
Braves: Manager Fredi Gonzalez said RHP Julio Teheran is healthy after being asked about the pitcher's knee the night before. Teheran has allowed 12 earned runs in his last three starts, a span of 15 innings. Gonzalez and pitching coach Roger McDowell watched video Wednesday with Teheran to show the staff ace that he's been throwing his fastball less than 50 percent of the time - a trend Gonzalez wants to stop.
UP NEXT
Nationals: RHP Stephen Strasburg (1-2) is 3-1 with a 1.97 ERA and has held the Mets to a .171 average in five career starts at Citi Field.
Braves: RHP Shelby Miller (3-0) has made six career starts against Cincinnati, going 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA.
Reds-Braves Preview
By JEFF MEZYDLO (STATS Senior Writer)
Despite not going deep into games, Shelby Miller has been effective enough to remain undefeated.
The right-hander looks to win his fourth straight start while trying to help the Atlanta Braves get back on track Thursday night against the visiting Cincinnati Reds.
Miller (3-0, 2.05 ERA) hasn't lasted past the sixth inning in any of his four starts but also has not yielded more than two runs or five hits in a game. Over his last 11 regular-season starts, the former St. Louis Cardinal is 5-0 with a 2.07 ERA.
He gave up a two-run homer to Ryan Howard and two other hits in six innings of a 5-2 win at Philadelphia on Saturday.
"He gives us a chance to win every time he goes out there," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez told MLB's official website.
Miller felt he had enough to stay in the contest but understood with the game close that Gonzalez needed to pinch-hit for him late.
"Do I want to go longer? Of course, every pitcher would say that. But at the same time, we're trying to win a game," Miller said.
Miller did not complete more than six innings in five starts against the Reds before yielding three hits in seven innings of a 5-0 win Sept. 8 to improve to 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA versus Cincinnati.
The Braves (10-11) can use another strong outing like that from Miller after two straight frustrating defeats to Washington. One night after blowing an eight-run lead to lose 13-12, Atlanta failed to hold a 3-1 advantage during Wednesday's 13-4 defeat.
It's the first time the Braves, losers in four of five at home, have allowed at least 10 runs in consecutive contests since a three-game stretch in July 2008.
Cincinnati (10-11), however, totaled five runs in three games while being swept at Turner Field last season.
The Reds got all their runs on solo homers and failed to complete a sweep of Milwaukee with Wednesday's 8-3 loss.
Joey Votto, who served as a pinch-hitter in that contest, hit .386 with six homers and 14 RBIs in the first 15 games but is 2 for 20 with one home run and nine strikeouts over the last six. His only hit in eight at-bats against Miller left the park.
Teammate Brandon Phillips had two hits in the series finale, and is batting .353 with a home run against Phillips.
Cincinnati's Mike Leake (0-1, 3.90) has allowed six home runs while going 3-2 with a 2.43 ERA in six starts against the Braves, but the five he's yielded this season have come over his the last three outings. The right-hander gave up three runs on two homers but two other hits and struck out nine in seven innings of Friday's 7-3, 11-inning loss to the Chicago Cubs.
While Atlanta's Andrelton Simmons is 5 for 10 versus Miller, Freddie Freeman is 1 for 13 with a home run against him. Freeman, however, is 10 for 17 with four doubles in the last four contests.
Teammate A.J. Pierzynski is 1 for 8 against Leake, but is batting .422 while hitting safely in all 12 games he's played this season.