Atlanta Braves News: The Morning Chop, Box Score, More International Signings
By Jeff Schafer
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: The Atlanta Braves were able to cool off the red hot Milwaukee Brewers on Monday as they won 5-3. The Brewers came into the game on an eight game winning streak, but record wise they were still the worst in baseball. The Braves had won four straight prior to the loss on Sunday to the Phillies (but let’s not bring that back up). Atlanta now sits at one game under .500 with a 41-42 record. The Braves are five games back in the NL East and four games back in the Wild Card.
Braves win 5-3
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameron Maybin CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | .297 | .367 | .417 |
| Nick Markakis RF | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .297 | .384 | .358 |
| Kelly Johnson 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | .272 | .315 | .437 |
| Juan Uribe 3B | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .281 | .333 | .422 |
| A.J. Pierzynski C | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .280 | .315 | .435 |
| Pedro Ciriaco 2B | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .292 | .294 | .400 |
| Andrelton Simmons SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | .259 | .315 | .348 |
| Eury Perez LF | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .279 | .326 | .302 |
| Matt Wisler P | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | .143 | .143 | .143 |
| David Aardsma P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Joey Terdoslavich PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .167 | .200 | .292 |
| Luis Avilan P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Jim Johnson P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Jason Grilli P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Team Totals | 40 | 5 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 44 | .375 | .419 | .550 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matt Wisler, W (3-1) | 5.2 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 3.13 |
| David Aardsma, H (2) | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.61 |
| Luis Avilan, H (10) | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.97 |
| Jim Johnson, H (20) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.14 |
| Jason Grilli, S (23) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.76 |
| Team Totals | 9 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3.00 |
ESPN
Fan hit by line drive during Braves-Brewers game
More from Tomahawk Take
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- Atlanta Braves History: How the Red Stockings became the Braves
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- Atlanta Braves Swing Trade with the New York Yankees for Lucas Luetge
- Atlanta Braves 2012 Top Prospects Review: Zeke Spruill
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: In the top of the 9th inning on Monday evening, Eury Perez hit a line drive back into the crowd that struck a women. The game was delayed for about 10 minutes to get the women in secure and medical hands. The broadcast never showed any images of how badly she was injured, but you could tell by the emotions on the players faces that it was an awful scene. The MLB will continue to look for ways to improve fan safety at ball parks and with so many occurrences happening this season, it may speed up the process of bringing in more netting.
A woman sitting several rows behind the Milwaukee Brewers‘ dugout was injured Monday night when she was hit by a line drive off the bat of Braves outfielder Eury Perez.
“As soon as I saw the ball hit hard that way, I just turned my head around. I knew the possibilities,” Simmons said while slumped in a chair in front of his locker after the game, still in full uniform. “I heard from [first-base coach Terry] Pendleton what happened. He told me it wasn’t good.
“When a ball is hit that hard into a crowded area, chances are somebody is going to get hit,” he said. “You hope if somebody gets hit that it’s in the arm or something. When somebody gets hits in the face, it’s always going to end up bad.”
Braves trade Kurcz, sign another 16-year-old FA shortstop
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: Does John Hart or anyone in the Atlanta Braves front office ever sleep or spend time with their families? Another international signing by the Braves on Monday, this time it’s a 16-year-old shortstop from Venezuela. Juan Morales was rated in the 30-40 range of top free-agent international free-agents. The Braves also recently signed Derian Cruz and Christian Pache, who are both 16-years-old from the Dominicans. They were ranked in the top 10.
The Braves continued to push their renewed emphasis on the international free-agent market by signing Venezuelan shortstop Juan Morales to a $450,000 bonus Monday, the third highly pursued 16-year-old free agent they’ve signed since the international signing period began Thursday.
Morales is a rangy, lanky athlete who’s been described as a “true shortstop” and a good hitter. The signing continues another point of emphasis for the Braves in free-agent pursuits: Up the middle defense. Their organization philosophy is to load up on young pitching and up-the-middle defenders – middle infielders, center fielders, and catchers.
To sign him without going over their prescribed international spending allotment and incurring expensive penalties and a possible restriction on future signings, the Braves created more room Monday by trading minor league reliever Aaron Kurcz to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for the 113th international bonus-pool slot, valued at $167,000.