How Short Is The Leash On Atlanta Braves Aaron Blair After Six Run Inning?

Braves Aaron Blair Implodes In 5th Inning

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher, Aaron Blair was kind of cruising through the game on Thursday afternoon…until that inning.

Yes, I’m talking about the 5th inning.  But before we cover that, let’s go back through the first few innings.

Blair only allowed two hits and two walks in the first four innings.  He was actually looking pretty solid on the mound.  He did walk the first batter of the game, but was able to get out of it without allowing a run.

In the 4th inning, Brandon Belt continue to stomp the gas against the Braves as he hit a one out ground-rule double.  Blair was able to get the last two outs and get out of another jam.

Sure, I’ll mention the Braves offense if you really want…in the 1st inning, Chase d’Arnaud continued to swing a hot bat as he singled and then Freddie Freeman hit a ground-rule double to right center field.  Jeff Francoeur then struck out as did Adonis Garcia.

The next offensive action came in the 3rd inning when d’Arnaud hit another single.  But that threat quickly evaporated as Freeman stuck out.

That gets us to the 5th inning.  I’ll make this quick because I don’t think we’d like to relive it.  Blanco walked to start the inning, Bumgarner then hit a bomb.  Span walked and Panik homered.  Duff was hit by a pitch and Posey hit a towering ball that probably just landed.

And that’s all for Blair.  Six runs, three homers, five hits, four walks, and a hit batter.

“Especially in that 5th inning, I don’t know what happened,” Brian Snitker said about Blair’s poor fastball command.  “He just kind of lost location, and when he missed, it was a two-run homer.  It just kind of got away from us right there.”

The Leash Is On

This was Blair’s second start since being called back up to Atlanta.  In his first start against the Miami Marlins, he lasted 5.2 innings giving up five hits, two runs, two walks and had five strikeouts.

The Braves have a few pitches waiting in the wing to jump at any opportunity.  Casey Kelly, Tyrell Jenkins, John Gant and Lucas Sims are all looking ready or almost ready to be in the MLB and would love the chance.

Blair’s next start would be June 7th against the Padres in San Diego.  He’s pitched in only two games away from Turner Field and has given up 11 hits and 10 runs in 7.1 innings.

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I can see the Braves giving him this start and possibly another one (which would be against the Reds) before they make a move.  Or hell, they could let him try to figure it out and keep him in the rotation.  At this point no one knows.

I’m a fan of Aaron Blair and I hope he can figure out a way to make a complete solid start.  If another thumping like this occurs, his confidence could be lost.

What we do know is that Blair was pretty successful until this one inning.  Hopefully he just had a meltdown and knows what he was doing early in this game.