RECAP: Atlanta Braves Fall to Cardinals Despite Shelby Miller’s Solid Performance
By Dan Horton
A day after the Atlanta Braves traded away Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe to the NL East rival New York Mets, the Braves plugged in recent call up Adonis Garcia to third base for his first start of his career. Along with the call up of Garcia, the Braves also called up Daniel Castro. Garcia, in his first at bat of the game, recorded his first Major League hit.
Shelby Miller got the ball in his first start since returning to St. Louis and Busch Stadium. The Braves were able to catch up with Jason Heyward as well. The two big pieces in this past off-season’s trade. Atlanta also activated Freddie Freeman from the DL. However, Freeman was not in the staring lineup, because he didn’t make it to St. Louis in time.
To allow room for Freeman on the roster, Atlanta optioned Joey Terdoslavich back to AAA Gwinnett. Freeman showed up by the top of the fourth.
Possible trading piece Chris Johnson made a nice defensive play in the bottom of the third inning. After Miller hit Mark Reynolds on the hand putting him on first with no outs, Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez tried to sacrifice Reynolds over to second. Martinez popped up the bunt and Johnson made a slick sliding catch charging to get the out. Johnson was able able to wheel around and get Reynolds, who had wandered too far off first for the double play.
So far through four innings, we had a scoreless pitchers duel developing. Miller surrendered only one hit to that point. Cardinals hurler Martinez had allowed four hits. At this point you had to wonder, could Miller just catch a break? Run support for Miller has been at a premium for his last hand-full of starts.
The beneficiary of some good defense, Miller was through six allowing only one hit. Still, the Braves were struggling to put runs on the board. Five base hits were all Atlanta had been able to muster. Something or someone, needed to give. The hope being it would be Martinez who would cave first.
In the seventh, Freddie Freeman got into the game. He pinch hit for Johnson and flew out to left. Even though he flew out, hopefully he can be the shot in the arm the Braves need to get back to scoring runs like they were before he went on the DL. Freeman obviously stayed in the game to play first.
The story of the night was the pitching. Through 6 1/2 innings, Miller stood at 81 (51 for strikes) pitches and Martinez was at 76 (50 for strikes).
In the eighth, Cards backstop Yadier Molina finally cracked the code on Miller. Molina singled up the middle for the Cardinals first hit since the lead off double in the first inning. A walk to the next hitter put men on 1st and 2nd and no one out. Miller was in his first rough patch of the night.
Mark Reynolds moved Pete Cosma (running for Molina) to 3rd after a fly out to center. That would signal the end of the night for Miller. His final line 7.1 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 2 BB, and 4 K’s. The game was now in the fate of the Braves bullpen.
Luis Avilan came on in relief. Miller’s woes of lacking run support continues, and to magnify the problem, the runners on were his responsibility putting him danger of losing yet another decision undeservedly.
And as fate would have it, rookie Stephen Piscotty flied to right driving in Cosma with the sac fly. Cardinals drew first blood and led 1-0 heading into the ninth. You can’t help but feel for Miller, he’s probably the best pitcher in the league with a losing record.
The Cardinals ended the game with their 4th double play of the night. A wasted effort by Shelby Miller as the Atlanta pitcher falls to 5-7 with a 2.27 ERA. Miller deserved a much better fate tonight, a theme that has become all too familiar for Braves fans.
Rookie Matt Wisler (4-1, 3.60) toes the rubber tomorrow afternoon in St. Louis, in an effort to try and salvage game 3. He faces off against the Cardinals’ Michael Wacha (11-3, 3.20). First pitch is scheduled for 2:15 EST.