Atlanta Braves Beat Up on an Old Friend, Win 7-5.
Jul 20, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves first baseman Joey Terdoslavich (28) congratulates right fielder Nick Markakis (22) after scoring a run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fifth inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
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Lots of good things happened tonight, a big relief for several areas of concern… which are nonetheless still concerning… but one bittersweet thing happened as well.
Brandon Beachy returned to Turner Field for his second start back since his second Tommy John procedure and managed to give life to the Braves bats, giving up 5 hits, 3 walks and four earned runs through 4 innings, including a homer. Hopefully Beachy will be able to shake the rust off, for when he was good, he was very good.
Ah, that homer. That was struck by none other than Nick Markakis. The long-awaited first tomahawk shot from the right fielder has finally occurred! That shot more-or-less set the tone for the evening as the Braves jumped out to a 2-0 lead, one they would not relenquish.
Kinda.
Wisling While You Work
Starter Matt Wisler (4-1) was very good, though not great tonight, but the Dodger attack does has a habit of making good pitchers sweat a bit. As it happens, if Wisler could have avoided the 5th inning (he went 6 all together), then his outing would have been spectacular. He instead gave up five hits (of 8 total) and 4 runs – capped by an Adrian Gonzalez shot to RF.
That tied up the affair and made everybody squeamish for … oh, half an inning. Markakis and Juan Uribe took care of that to make it 5-4. Oh, and if you’re keeping score: Uribe 1 for 3 (RBI, walk) and Alberto Callaspo 0 for 1 in a pinch-hit role.
I was a bit surprised that Fredi Gonzalez kept him in the game through the end of that inning (never mind giving him the 6th), but the 1-2-3 finish was probably good for Wisler’s psyche.
Aside from Markakis’ blast (and I believe Jonny Gomes took the bat and readied it for transport to Cooperstown), Jace Peterson did what Jace Peterson does: hit another bases-loaded RBI… 2 in fact… with a blooped chalk shot down the LF line in the 4th with 2 outs.
But Wait, There’s More!
But Jace wasn’t done: in the 6th, he knocked in both Andrelton Simmons (single) and Pedro Ciriaco (double) with a key single.
The final was 7-5 thanks to closer Jim Johnson making it more interesting than we wanted to see in the 9th, but a tailor-made double play threw cold water on the Dodgers rally, even as that 5th run scored.
Tonight also marked the return of Andrew McKirahan, and his rust showed: 2 hitters, 2 hits… and that was all for him. Arodys Vizcaino managed to keep runs off the board despite another single…and the Braves throwing Adrian Gonzalez out at home.
Fun Fact: Braves pitching only struck out 2 tonight, but walked no one. There were 14 hits scattered about, though.
It was very good to see Markakis (2 for 3, walk) get off the schnide, Simmons getting hits (2 for 3, walk), and Peterson (2 for 5, 4 RBI really, but 3 are shown in the box right now) all contributing strongly tonight. Half-priced pizza tomorrow… and don’t forget to get your oil changed.
Tuesday night looks like a matchup between Brett Anderson and Alex Wood… 7:10 EDT start.