Atlanta Braves Brandon Beachy Are you asking if I expect to be perfect?

The Atlanta Braves offense came out to play Monday night….well at least for two innings in regulation play.  The Braves crossed the plate six times in the 3rd inning and then twice more in the 5th to be up  8-7 against the Colorado Rockies heading into the 9th inning.

But then Jordan Walden let a save opportunity slip through his fingers letting Colorado to score a run.  This only added to the story though as both new pitchers were able to make an appearance in Monday night’s 9-8 victory.

Jul 29, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher

(37) pitches against the Colorado Rockies during the first inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

The stories coming into the night were about the two new pitchers the Braves added to the roster on Monday.  One was newly acquired left handed reliever Scott Downs and the other was starting pitcher Brandon Beachy.  The 25-year-old, Beachy, stepped on the mound in a Braves uniform for the first time since June 16th 2012.

Before the game Beachy spoke on his upcoming game “Are you asking if I expect to be perfect?  Because yes I am, absolutely!  Is that realistic, no not at all.  But that isn’t going to stop me from holding myself to the standard that I always have.”

Well Beachy wasn’t perfect Monday night but showed signs that he still has a good fastball and offspeed pitches to get MLB hitters out.  Brandon would only last 3.2 innings giving up 7 earned runs, two home runs, eight hits and a walk.  He did total five strike outs in his first appearance.

Scott Downs, the 37-year-old who made his debut in the 9th inning with the bases loaded and was able to get Todd Helton to line straight back to him to end the 9th, was added to the Braves roster prior to the game in an act by Frank Wren to improve the bullpen.

“It’s a good pick up for us, he’s a veteran guy” Manager Fredi Gonzalez said.  “A guy who has been around for a while and is having a really good season.  He’s going to take some burden off of Luis Avilan, we’ve put some stressful innings on a young kid so bringing in a veteran left handed guy will take some burden off and it’s a really good move.”

“He brings that experience and the ability to get the best left handed hitters out and that’s something we needed” GM Frank Wren spoke on Downs.  “We needed to give Avilan, who has done a tremendous job since Jonny Venters and Eric O’Flaherty went down, we needed to give him some reinforcements and the ability to use someone else in that situation.”

In the bottom of the 10th inning, Dan Uggla led off the inning with a walk and Andrelton Simmons put a great swing on a ball and drove it to the fence scoring Uggla.

Jul 29, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves shortstop

(19) doubles in a run against the Colorado Rockies during the third inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

“The first slider didn’t break like I thought it would so it stayed in on me a little bit.  The second one, he let me get extended and I squared up on it pretty good” Simmons said after his walk off triple on his final at bat.

This was Simmons third hit of the night  and added two RBI’s.  This was Andrelton’s second walk off hit of his career.

Jason Heyward continues to prosper out of the leadoff spot as he had two hits, an RBI and a run scored.  Chris Johnson and Joey Terdoslavich each included two hits.  Uggla added two RBI’s and two runs scored include the winning run.

The Braves once again put up a high tally of runs without hitting a home run Monday night.

Downs pitched a perfect 10th inning frame and picked up the victory.  He spoke in the post game about meeting his new team “I like to keep it relaxed, there is nothing better than a situation like that because your either going to get out of it or your not.  I just said hey, it’s nice to meet you guys, let’s go have some fun and just joked around a little bit.  That’s the name of the game.”

“We were excited (Sunday) night when we saw this having a chance,” Wren said.  “You almost pinch yourself a little bit because it’s still a couple days before the deadline and you’ve got a chance to get a key piece, at least a key piece for us.  Now we can look to see if we can perfect some other areas.”

Sounds like Wren will still be making calls all the way up to the July 31st deadline.  Stay with us as the hours/minutes/seconds tick by.