Atlanta Braves News: The Morning Chop, Box Score, Lose 6-1 and Manny Banuelos
By Jeff Schafer
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: The Washington Nationals have now won nine of their past 10 games and have won nine in a row against the Atlanta Braves. The Nationals are safely in first place in the NL East with a 43-34 record, while the Braves have a 36-41 record. It would be nice to pick up these next two games at Turner Field, but without Freddie Freeman, the offense has been awful. Since Freeman has been out of the lineup, the Braves have only scored 22 runs in 11 games (and six came in one game).
Braves lose 6-1
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jace Peterson 2B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .266 | .346 | .375 |
| Cameron Maybin CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .281 | .354 | .391 |
| Nick Markakis RF | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .302 | .389 | .357 |
| A.J. Pierzynski C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .267 | .307 | .406 |
| Juan Uribe 3B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .279 | .333 | .397 |
| Kelly Johnson LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .263 | .297 | .423 |
| Joey Terdoslavich 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .190 | .227 | .333 |
| Andrelton Simmons SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .271 | .328 | .366 |
| Shelby Miller P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .037 | .071 | .074 |
| Eury Perez PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .286 | .310 | .321 |
| Jake Brigham P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Pedro Ciriaco PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .309 | .310 | .436 |
| Ryan Kelly P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Chris Johnson PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .239 | .283 | .326 |
| Team Totals | 35 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 36 | .229 | .250 | .343 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shelby Miller, L (5-4) | 5 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 2.20 |
| Jake Brigham | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Ryan Kelly | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9.00 |
| Team Totals | 9 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 15 | 1 | 5.00 |
Zimmermann stays in the zone as Nationals hold Braves at bay, 6-1
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: The Washington Nationals jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on Tuesday night against the Braves best pitcher, Shelby Miller. It looked as though someone was tipping off the Nationals hitters with what Miller would be throwing. They were hitting everything Miller threw in. Shelby did total 10 strikeouts, but that first inning destroyed the Braves. Nationals starter, Jordan Zimmermann pitched outstanding once again against the Braves. He pitched 7.2 innings without giving up a run and picked up his sixth win of the season.
"Before Tuesday’s game, Nationals Manager Matt Williams said the key to beating Miller would be patience, making each at-bat last long enough to get a mistake, then hitting it. Miller’s 1.94 ERA entering Tuesday was the third-lowest in baseball. Clearly, finding and hitting his mistakes is easier said than done.In the first inning, the Nationals did it. Center fielder Denard Span and second baseman Danny Espinosa found their mistakes early, each seeing low-90s fastballs early in the count and turning them into line drives, a single for Span, a run-scoring double for Espinosa. Three batters later, Wilson Ramos knocked a fastball up the middle to score Espinosa. Then Clint Robinson battled Miller to a 3-2 count, threw his bat at a fastball to foul it off and earn another pitch — the mistake, a hittable curveball. Robinson hit it into the right field seats, his third homer of the year.“It’s just getting a good pitch and doing something with it, nothing really special,” Robinson said. “He’s got great stuff. He’s gonna throw a lot of fastballs, and we just did a good job of battling with him.”"
Braves lefty Banuelos likely to debut with start Thursday
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: With all the high-profile trades the Atlanta Braves made this past offseason, you may have forgotten about the trade with the New York Yankees on January 1. The Braves sent David Carpenter and Chasen Shreve, two MLB relief pitchers, to NYC and the Yankees sent Manny Banuelos, once the Yanks top prospect. The left-hander is expected to have an innings limit this season as 2014 was his first full season after his Tommy John surgery. There’s a chance Banuelos moves to the bullpen once Williams Perez is healthy to keep his innings down.
"Banuelos, 24, is expected to be called up from Gwinnett and make his major league debut Thursday with a start against the Washington Nationals in a series-finale matchup against arguably baseball’s hottest pitcher, Max Scherzer.Banuelos would take the rotation turn of rookie Williams Perez, who was placed on the 15-day Saturday with a bruised foot after being struck by a sharp one-hop grounder Friday. Wisler makes his third major league start Wednesday when he faces the Nationals for the second time in six days.“Very talented pitcher,” Wisler said. “He’s got a really good mix — three pitches, good change-up, good curveball. I think he’s ready. He’s thrown real well this year, every time out you’re going to get six (innings) and two runs or less. I think he’ll be good. I think he’s ready.”"