Atlanta Braves Chop and Box… What’s in Your Attic?
Bryce Harper (34) celebrates with third baseman Yunel Escobar (5) after hitting a three run home run during the eighth inning against the Atlanta Braves at Nationals Park. Washington Nationals defeated Atlanta Braves 9-2. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
The Morning After
It really wasn’t Eric Stults‘ fault. He pitched six innings, gave up 3 earned run, struck out 7. That’s probably enough to win on most nights. There were two pitches he’d like to have back, of course: one to Jayson Werth and one to Bryce Harper, who’s on a tear right now.
The Harper homers might have been preventable, though. Witness this chart that I retweeted yesterday morning:
Bryce Harper's season and his 3-HR night in heat-map form. He seems to like the ball away pic.twitter.com/HELUutnljm
— Mark Simon (@MarkASimonSays) May 7, 2015
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First homer pitch to Harper last night? Outer half and up. The second one was outer half at the belt. Somebody please tell the Braves’ pitchers that going away to Harper will not work. You’ve got to jam him, especially up.
But nobody was immune last night: Stults, 2 homers; Brandon Cunniff, Williams Perez, Trevor Cahill – all 1 apiece.
Didn’t matter so much, though: despite the top 4 in our offense collecting 5 hits, the Braves could only muster a pair of runs, and that just wouldn’t hold back the deluge to follow in the 9-2 defeat.