Braves Defeat Mets 8-3, Pitcher Kris Medlen Injured

On most nights we would feel pretty good about an 8-3 victory, especially one where the Braves clubbed three home runs and won their first series in their last four tries. However, tonight there is a somber mood as Kris Medlen left the game with one out in the fifth inning with an injury to his elbow. Braves beat writer David O’Brien reports that it is an injury to the Ulnar Collateral Ligament which worst case scenario could spell Tommy John surgery.

Medlen surrendered single runs in the second and third innings. He only allowed four hits while walking one and striking out three. Medlen appeared to be settling in after a 1-2-3 fourth inning. Luis Castillo led off the fifth with a single. Mets pitcher Mike Pelfrey sacrificed Castillo to second. Medlen then faced Jose Reyes and awkwardly jumped to the left of the mound after delivering a pitch that brought Bobby Cox out of the dugout. Medlen appeared to be flexing his hand as if he was trying to get the feeling back in it. He left the game and was replaced by Mike Dunn who retired the Mets in the fifth.

The Braves offense still struggled with runners in scoring position tonight (1-9) but hammered out some extra base hits to score some runs tonight. Mike Pelfrey surrendered three hits in the first inning alone the last of which was a Brian McCann double that plated Chipper Jones and gave the Braves an early 1-0 lead. The Braves didn’t score again until the third inning when Chipper Jones came to the plate with the Braves trailing 2-1. Jones hammered his ninth home run of the season over the 390 sign in right center to tie the game at 2-2. Brian McCann quickly followed with his 15th home run to give the Braves a 3-2 lead.

The Braves went on to tack on five more runs four of which were unearned. The Mets had four costly errors that either extended innings or directly allowed runs to score. Melky Cabrera capped off the Braves scoring with his first home run at Turner Field (4th overall) in the eighth inning.

Offensively Chipper Jones and Brian McCann combined to go 6-9 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI. They also scored 4 runs. Omar Infante filling in for Martin Prado had two more hits as well. It wasn’t a text book offensive night, but it was nice to see some balls leaving the yard.

Looking ahead the Braves open a four game set tomorrow against the San Francisco Giants and Tim Lincecum. Jair Jurrjens will be on the mound for the Braves. Kris Medlen reportedly will have an MRI tomorrow and we will be updating his status as soon as more details are available.