Atlanta Braves Tyrell Jenkins Solid In First Start, But Late Homer Gives Philadelphia The Win

Jenkins solid in first start but Braves can’t hold a late lead–stop me if you’ve heard that one before.

For many, this was a long-anticipated day—the day Tyrell Jenkins would make his first major-league start.

Jenkins was part of the deal that got the whole ball rolling on the frame-off restoration of the Atlanta Braves, coming over from St. Louis with Shelby Miller for Jason Heyward 10 days before Thanksgiving in 2014.

Since that trade, many things have happened within the organization and many (many, many, many) more pitchers have come aboard, pushing the limelight away from Jenkins quite a bit (a cursory glance around some early-spring prospect rankings placed him anywhere from sixth to eighth among Atlanta pitching prospects, with our Tomahawk Take staff placing him sixth among hurlers and 11^th overall in February), to the point he was moved to the bullpen before earning his call-up a month ago.

But with Julio Teheran battling an infection, Jenkins got his first big-league start in Wednesday’s matinee against Philadelphia, and although he didn’t get the win—Jenkins didn’t quite make it out of the fifth inning, getting the hook after throwing 64 pitches and giving up the game-tying double to Odubel Herrera—he gave a glimpse of the talent that made him such an intriguing prospect in the first place.

Jenkins kept the ball down—wayyyyyyyy down. Eight of 12 outs off the bat against Jenkins were groundouts, most coming on well-located fastballs that he mixed well during his outing, especially as he incorporated his slider in later innings. With spots four and five in the rotation currently belonging to journeymen Joel de la Cruz and Lucas Harrell, I hope that his work today will garner Jenkins a longer look going forward.

As for the game itself, Atlanta got off to the early lead thanks to a bases-loaded walk to Freddie Freeman in the third. The fifth inning could have fared worse for the Braves than just a run-scoring double from Herrera, but Jeff Francoeur showed he still possessed the cannon arm, nailing Freddie Galvis at the plate after a Cesar Hernandez single.

The Braves got a number of nice fielding plays to help Jenkins and the bullpen out, including an up-the-middle snare and running throw by Erick Aybar in the second and a long, running grab from Nick Markakis on a Peter Bourjos liner in the third.

Adonis Garcia helped the Braves regain the lead in the sixth with a double that scored Francoeur, but Maikel Franco’s 17^th home run of the season tied the game again in the bottom half of the frame.

The Phillies’ defense stepped up as well in the seventh, with Cody Asche running down a Chase d’Arnaud liner to start the frame and Herrera reeling in an Ender Inciarte drive to the warning track to end the threat.

#AdonisIsMyHomeboy struck again in the eighth, doubling home Jeff Francoeur, who reached on a fielder’s choice and advanced to second on a wild pitch before Garcia’s shot down the line in left.

Things broke badly for the Braves in the eighth, however. Bringing in oft-used Arodys Vizcaino—his 16^th appearance since June 1—backfired on Brian Snitker.

Franco worked his way to third after drawing a leadoff walk and advancing on a Carlos Ruiz single and a Tommy Joseph double-play ball. Up stepped Galvis, and he atoned for getting thrown at the plate with a two-out, two-run go-ahead home run deep to right off a Vizcaino two-seamer that caught too much of the plate.

Despite an 0-for-12 from the top third of the lineup, Atlanta’s attack was paced by Garcia, who went 3-for-4 and snapped a 3-for-30 slump dating back to June 28—ironically, two days before I wrote this. I have (few) regrets.

Also, as I’m not altogether sure what to do with this, it goes here:

Next: The Braves rumor that refuses to die

Now losers in eight of their last 10, the Braves get to face the Cubs Thursday evening in a makeup of their April 30 rainout instead of getting a needed day off. Harrell will face Jason Hammel, 8:05 p.m. (ET) at Wrigley, a matchup that seems heavily weighted in Chicago’s favor at first blush. Then again, Harrell outdueled Jose Fernandez his last time out, so maybe he’s got another gem in him against Hammel, the comparatively worse (7-5, 3.45 ERA) of the two pitchers.