Atlanta Braves Are Defeated By The Cincinnati Reds 5-1 and Lose The Series

Atlanta Braves fall to the Cincinnati Reds 5-1 on Wednesday night.  The Reds took two out of three games during this series – a series the Braves should have won.  Atlanta is now 15-19 in 2015 and the Reds are 17-17.

The Braves struggled mightily at the plate tonight as their starting lineup didn’t record a single hit on Wednesday.  The Reds starting pitcher, Raisel Iglesias, didn’t allow a hit until the 6th inning.  At the end of the day, Atlanta had two hits on the board – one from Eric Young Jr in the 6th inning and the other coming from Pedro Ciriaco in the 9th.

Iglesias pitched into the 9th inning, but wasn’t able to record an out.  He gave up two hits, one run, three walks and had five strikeouts.  The 25-year-old from Cuba was making his second career MLB start.

Braves starter Eric Stults had another rough outing.  He pitched five innings, giving up six hits, five runs, one walk and had three strikeouts.

“They got to Stults pretty quickly – five innings, five runs – and we weren’t able to come back,” said Fredi Gonzalez.  “Both our hits came off the bench with EY and Ciriaco – so those were are only hits of the game.”

Stults also allowed two homers – one from Marlon Byrd (which was barely a home run) and the other from Todd Frazier (which was clearly a home run).  This was the third straight game where Stults has allowed two home runs.

“I think the balls are too over the plate,” Gonzalez told reports after the game.  “He doesn’t have the velocity to make mistakes over the plate.  I think it’s just a matter of staying out of the middle of the plate with his fastball and even his secondary pitches.”

The Braves now head to Miami to take on the Marlins in a three game series starting on Friday.  Julio Teheran is projected to be the starter for Atlanta in game one.