Atlanta Braves News: The Morning Chop
By Jeff Schafer
Tomahawk Take Editor Notes: Gavin Floyd picked up with his victory since 2012! Great job for him as he went deep into the game Monday night and the bullpen was able to close the door for the Atlanta Braves to beat the Rockies 3-1. Craig Kimbrel picked up his 17th save of the 2014 season. Chris Johnson was the offensive stud last night going 3-4 with two RBIs. Evan Gattis continues his hitting steak to 10 games.
Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OPS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Jason Heyward RF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .256 | .724 |
B.J. Upton CF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .207 | .613 |
Freddie Freeman 1B | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .285 | .866 |
Justin Upton LF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .292 | .923 |
Evan Gattis C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .268 | .859 |
Chris Johnson 3B | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .260 | .609 |
Tommy La Stella 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .364 | .780 |
Shae Simmons P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Craig Kimbrel P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Andrelton Simmons SS | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .258 | .677 |
Gavin Floyd P | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .077 | .154 |
Luis Avilan P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
Ramiro Pena 2B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .205 | .630 |
Team Totals | 34 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 9 | .206 | .514 |
Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gavin Floyd, W (1-2) | 6.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2.57 |
Luis Avilan, H (4) | 0.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.87 |
Shae Simmons, H (4) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 |
Craig Kimbrel, S (17) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1.90 |
Team Totals | 9 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1.00 |
Gavin Floyd pitches Atlanta Braves past Colorado Rockies 3-1
Tomahawk Take Editor Notes: Floyd did his job going 6.2 innings on Monday giving up only one earned run on three hits and three walks. Gavin totaled four strikeouts and picked up the win. His lone run was off the bat of Corey Dickerson who hit his eighth home run of the season. The Braves look to win again in Coors Field on Tuesday.
Gavin Floyd pitched effectively into the seventh inning for his first win since returning last month from reconstructive surgery on his right elbow, leading the Atlanta Braves past the Colorado Rockies 3-1 on Monday night.
Floyd, who was limited to five starts last season while with the Chicago White Sox before undergoing Tommy John surgery, allowed one run and three hits in 6 2-3 innings in picking up his first victory since beating Cleveland on Oct. 3, 2012. Signed by Atlanta as a free agent last December, Floyd (1-2) snapped a career-long six-game losing streaking dating to April 2013.
Chris Johnson had three hits, including two RBI singles, to help the Braves beat the Rockies for the 15th time in 18 games since 2012. Evan Gattis had an RBI groundout and singled to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 10 games.
Braves likely to trade for needed bullpen help
Tomahawk Taked Editor Notes: For the words of David O’Brien, a guy who is with the Atlanta Braves staff and players day in and day out. These words you can’t take for granite and will probably happen. But it’s that unwritten rule of when a team knows you’re looking for a certain player, the price tag just goes up and up. This is unfortunate and hopefully Jordan Walden can come back to the pen to help the Braves. Maybe one of these months we will also get back Jonny Venters.
Unlke the offense, the pitching issue can and likely will be addressed before the trade deadline. I’d expect the Braves to trade for at least one reliever in the coming weeks, even if that means trading an established starting pitcher to do so. They are reluctant to trade a starter for concern that as soon as they did so, one of the remaining starters would get hurt.
But keep in mind, if the Braves were to trade a Gavin Floyd or Aaron Harang and later have an injury to one of the remaining guys, they’d still have five starters with at least some major league experience. David Hale, remember?
Anyway, Floyd or Harang could be dealt because each is only on a one-year contract and isn’t going to be a guy who’d bring you a draft pick as compensation when he leaves as a free agent. But but I’d say Floyd more likely to be moved, given that Harang has gotten the team so much deeper into games and pitched quite well with the exception of the one start at Miami.
Atlanta Braves got a steal by drafting West Bloomfield’s Dazon Cole
Tomahawk Take Editor Notes: West Bloomfield’s Dazon Cole was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 29th round, 883 overall pick, out of the state of Michigan. In high school he hit 93 MPH and was one of the best pitchers in the state. Though he is just 5″11′ he stands tall on the mound. Some MLB scouts viewed Cole as a pitcher while others saw him as a middle infielder or an outfielder. He was told that he could be drafted anywhere from the second round to the sixth round in the 2014 draft, but Baseball America did not have him listed in the top 500 players. The Braves might of walked away with a steal with their 29th round pick.
Last summer, Cole needed to go to a high-profile showcase event in Florida, but his family didn’t have enough money for airfare, so Uncle Eddie went to a recreation center and asked for help. Several people pulled together enough money for Dazon to go.
This is one reason there are so few black players in the majors because it’s so expensive to play travel baseball and it costs money to get noticed and get the best training, even somebody with a golden arm.
“Everybody gave me a little something to help pay for the ticket and get me down there,” Cole said. “I’m so thankful. I want to come back and help the city.”