Atlanta Braves Suffer Double Whammy; Fall to Rox 3-2 as Grilli Suffers Serious Injury

The Atlanta Braves and rookie Matt Wisler looked to right the ship after two rough outings in Colorado Saturday afternoon. With 2 games left before the All-Star break prior to the start of today’s afternoon tilt, the Braves’ bats needed to wake up and try to hang two W’s on the board. It wouldn’t be easy against Jorge De La Rosa, the Rockies starter.

If the 1st inning was any indication, it was going to be a long afternoon in the Mile-High City. De La Rosa proceeded to strikeout the side to start things off.

In the last two encounters, the Braves have had a difficult time keeping the Rox off the board in the early innings. Well, the struggle, as they say, is real. Charlie Blackmon got it going early with a lead-off hit. Nolan Arenado followed with a strikeout as did Troy Tulowitzki on a foul tip Ryan Lavarnway was able to hold on to.

It was Carlos Gonzalez that got the scoring off the ground. On a 1-0 pitch that stayed out over the plate, CarGo blasted a belt-high fastball to straight away center for a 1st inning, 2-0 lead. A fly out to right fielder Nick Markakis ended the inning.

De La Rosa kept going in the 2nd. He victimized Chris Johnson for his 4th straight ‘K’. However, that streak ended when Juan Uribe scorched a line drive shot on a 2-0 pitch to left center, cutting the lead in half. You can’t argue how much of an asset Uribe has been in the middle of the Braves line-up. If only we could guys on in front of him.

De La Rosa was back on track against Jonny Gomes though, getting another strikeout. His 5th in six hitters to start the game. Andrelton Simmons grounded out to Tulo to finish the 2nd.

In the top of the 3rd, Braves catcher Ryan Lavarnway got his first homer as a Brave out of the way and tied the game at 2. That would be all the Braves could muster in the inning. Though a tie game early in the contest doesn’t mean much in Colorado. Anyone can score at any given moment here.

The Braves had a chance in the 4th to add to their score. After a pair of walks and a base hit to load the bases with 2 outs, Ryan Lavarnway bounced a one hopper back to the pitcher to end the threat. De La Rosa looked a little more human in the 4th with the two walks. But the inability to produce a timely hit with RISP eluded Atlanta in the frame.

Some tough luck for the Braves came in the 5th. Arenado roped a double off the left field wall. However, Jonny Gomes made yet another great play off the wall, came up firing to second base as Arenado raced for second. The throw beat the runner by 5 feet, but Arenado made a great swim move to beat the tag. As long as Wisler and Co. could keep him there, no harm done.

After the Braves chose to put CarGo on with 2 out and first base empty, Wisler would get McHenry to chase a nasty slider for his 7th strikeout of the day. Wisler was really impressive through 5 innings. Only allowing the 2-run home run to Gonzalez in the first.

De La Rosa was effective too. His 2 runs allowed came via the long ball as well. After the first few innings, both pitchers settled in and found themselves in the midst of a pitchers duel. Aside from high-octane, offensive outbursts, a pitchers duel is my next favorite type of game to watch.

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Matt Wisler went 6 strong innings and was lifted for pinch hitter Eury Perez in the top of the 7th. His final line was 6 IP, 6 Hits, 2 runs (both earned), 3 BB’s (one intentional) and 7 K’s.

After a lead off ground out by Simmons, Lavarnway and Perez walked. But hitting with men in scoring position had plagued the Braves all day. Cameron Maybin flew out to left field and Lavarnway nearly got doubled off second. Pedro Ciriaco would make it 0-4 with RISP. After 7 innings, Atlanta had left 6 men on base.

Arodys Vizcaino started the 7th for the Braves, replacing Wisler. If anything good came of today, Wisler saved the Braves bullpen after the first two games of the series were basically a battle of the pens, especially game 1.

After a lengthy stand at 2, the bottom of the 7th got a little dicey for Atlanta. A one out triple to Blackmon and an IBB to Arenado put runners on the corners. Vizcaino got Tulo to strikeout notching the second out of the inning. Atlanta would go to the pen and call on Luis Avilan to try to put out the flames.

Against lefties this year, Avilan has allowed a .317 average. CarGo is probably not the spot you want to bring Avilan in for. Avilan struck out Gonzalez on three straight pitches to get out of the jam.

Next: Saturday's Morning Chop

Markakis singled to start the 8th and Chris Johnson chased him around to 3rd after a long single to right field. The problem: Johnson thought the ball may have been foul, and started trotting down the first base line.

Apparently he thought the ball was going to go foul. When the ball hit high off the wall, Johnson picked it up, but it was a little too late. A great throw from right by CarGo seemed to get Johnson sliding head first into second.

The call was ruled out, and after replay, the call was confirmed. But the good news was Atlanta had a runner on third with one out. Juan Uribe was intentionally walked and Kelly Johnson came to pinch hit for Jonny Gomes.

Kelly bounced a ball to first base. Nick Markakis went down the line and Paulsen, Colorado’s first basemen, instead of going to first, threw to third. Nick beat the throw back to third. After a quick review by Weiss, the called stood as safe!

Simmons ended up flying out on a ball that Nick couldn’t score on. So now two outs and bases still loaded. It was up to Lavarnway to get the job done. He didn’t and the Braves were turned away leaving the bases loaded in the 8th.

More missed opportunities for Atlanta. That brought the total to 9 left on base and 0 for 7 with men in scoring position. Hard to score when you can’t get the hits you need.

Scary moment in the 9th! On a ground ball to Chris Johnson at 1st base, Jason Grilli took off for the bag to take the throw. Grilli took four steps and went down, hard. We obviously don’t know what it is yet, but me personally, knew immediately it was an Achilles injury. No matter the outcome of the game, you never want to see this happen.

David Aardsma came in for Grilli. After an emotional injury like this, it can be hard to recover. Aardsma surrendered a HBP. With runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs, it wasn’t looking good.

With the bases loaded, Folty came on to spell Aardsma. On the first pitch, he got CarGo to pop it up into no man’s land behind Simmons and in front of Maybin. Maybin called off Simmons and the ball fell to the ground.

Maybin still had a shot at the plate, but he dropped the ball and then slipped. The Rox walked off on a bloop single from their biggest bat. Just goes to prove, you don’t have to put it in the seats every time. You put the ball in play, you never know what can happen.

Joe Simpson best summed it up. “ARE YOU KIDDIN’ ME!?” Those were his words.

This game is a hard one to swallow, not just because of the loss either. We’ll have to wait and see what the word is on Grilli, most likely tomorrow. But first indications were not very promising as he was taken off in a cart.

The Braves try to salvage the final game before the All-Star break on Sunday. The Braves will send Alex Wood (6-5, 3.34) to the mound to face Chad Bettis (4-4, 4.95).

Moments after the game ended, the Braves official Twitter feed had this to say:

It’s time to get the heck out of Colorado, and fast.