Atlanta Braves News: The Morning Chop and Box Score 8/25
By Jeff Schafer
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Notes: Jason Heyward continues his strong second half of the season with two hits. He has now raised his batting average to .272 for the 2014 season. B.J. Upton continues to play in center and continues to struggle at the plate. The Braves held to an off day on Monday to try and find anything left in the tank. They are now eight games behind Washington for the NL East crown and one game back of the wildcard. The Mets series starts on Tuesday.
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Heyward RF | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | .272 | .355 | .389 | .744 |
| Philip Gosselin SS | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | .304 | .333 | .391 | .725 |
| Freddie Freeman 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | .292 | .387 | .480 | .867 |
| Justin Upton LF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .287 | .361 | .522 | .883 |
| Chris Johnson 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .272 | .297 | .377 | .674 |
| Evan Gattis C | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .276 | .331 | .520 | .852 |
| Tommy La Stella 2B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .267 | .344 | .338 | .683 |
| B.J. Upton CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | .205 | .280 | .325 | .605 |
| Aaron Harang P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .080 | .098 | .080 | .178 |
| David Carpenter P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Ryan Doumit PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .194 | .235 | .282 | .517 |
| David Hale P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .063 | .059 | .063 | .121 |
| Emilio Bonifacio PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .275 | .315 | .358 | .673 |
| Team Totals | 35 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 40 | .257 | .350 | .400 | .750 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aaron Harang, L (10-8) | 5.1 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 3.60 |
| David Carpenter | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.56 |
| David Hale | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3.01 |
| Team Totals | 8 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 5.62 |
Simon turns in solid start in Reds win over Braves
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Notes: There the Braves go again, making a not so great pitcher look like an All-Star. Alfredo Simon picked up his first win of the second half of Sunday in a 5-3 victory over the Braves. Simon pitched seven strong innings only allowing five hits and one earned run.
"Simon (13-8), who was 0-5 since pitching in the All-Star Game, opened with six shutout innings before yielding a run in the seventh. He allowed five hits with one walk and six strikeouts over seven innings.”Simon was ahead in the count and was able to use his whole complement of pitches,” Reds’ manager Bryan Price said. ”There are times when a pitcher is throwing with the same velocity but it doesn’t feel like it. He tries to manufacture more. Today, he just executed his pitches.”"
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Atlanta Braves settle for split with Cincinnati
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Notes: Can we blame a loss on one person or one play? Absolutely not…well maybe some games but not Sunday’s match up. The play that was ‘heard around the world’ was that of Aaron Harang not covering first base on a dribbler to Freddie Freeman. However, this did open the flood gates for the Reds.
"Cincinnati had runners on first and second with one in the fourth inning of a scoreless tie when Jay Bruce hit a chopper up the line to first baseman Freddie Freeman. Harang started to come off the mound, then stopped as he thought the ball was going foul. Bruce was safe, opening the door for a three-run inning.“Something as small as covering first base, which I’ve done thousands of times in my career,” Harang said. “The one time I don’t do it, the inning unravels. If I cover first, the next guy flies out to right field and the inning’s over.”"