Atlanta Braves News: The Morning Chop, Box Score, Brian McCann Rumors Continue
By Jeff Schafer
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: The Atlanta Braves took down the Pittsburg Pirates on Thursday night and we took two of three from what could still be a playoff contender. The Pirates are now 53-53 and are 12.5 games behind the Cubs in the Central. Pittsburg is only three games out of the NL Wild Card though so the Braves took a series from a pretty solid team. Is Matt Kemp the savior?? Kemp went 1-10 since joining the Braves, but he’s played a part in other ways. I’ll give him the benefit of doubt and say that series he just had some new team jitters. He’ll heat up this weekend against the St. Louis Cardinals. Go Braves!
Braves WIN 5-2
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jace Peterson 2B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | .273 | .363 | .390 | .753 |
| Erick Aybar SS | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .235 | .294 | .294 | .588 |
| Freddie Freeman 1B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .278 | .362 | .504 | .866 |
| Matt Kemp LF | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | .258 | .285 | .482 | .767 |
| Nick Markakis RF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | .266 | .343 | .377 | .720 |
| Adonis Garcia 3B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | .271 | .310 | .401 | .711 |
| Ender Inciarte CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .263 | .322 | .333 | .656 |
| A.J. Pierzynski C | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .216 | .233 | .289 | .522 |
| Tyrell Jenkins P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Brandon Cunniff P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Hunter Cervenka P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Jeff Francoeur PH | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .252 | .290 | .395 | .685 |
| Chris Withrow P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Jim Johnson P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Team Totals | 29 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 34 | .207 | .273 | .241 | .514 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyrell Jenkins | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4.33 |
| Brandon Cunniff | 0.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 |
| Hunter Cervenka, W (1-0) | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.27 |
| Chris Withrow, H (11) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3.31 |
| Jim Johnson, S (7) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.79 |
| Team Totals | 9 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2.00 |
MLB trade rumors: Will Yankees eat money to move Brian McCann?
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: Should the Braves continue their pursuit of Brian McCann?? I don’t know. Tyler Flowers is on his way back as he’s suppose to be taking batting practice on the field today and Anthony Recker hasn’t been that bad. An upgrade would be very nice, but if it will cost the Braves anything above ‘a little’ I don’t think the Braves continue to look his way.
"On a recent list of August trade candidates, Paul Hagen of MLB.com listed McCann and thinks a connection could still be there between New York and Atlanta this month—under one condition: The Yankees would have to eat some of the money owed to McCann on his current contract.Before the non-waiver Deadline, the Braves were reportedly interested in bringing back a receiver who made seven All-Star teams with them before leaving as a free agent. McCann would have to waive his full no-trade clause and the teams would have to negotiate how much of his contract the Yankees would pay, but he’d be a recognizable face for fans to root for when the Braves move into their new park next season. McCann will make a total of $34 million over the next two seasons and has a $15 million vesting option for ’19, but with the Yanks in full rebuild mode now, a deal doesn’t seem so crazy.That’s potentially $49 million still to come for a 32-year-old catcher that’s gone from a Silver Slugger in Atlanta (123 OPS+ from 2006-2011) to barely above average (101 OPS since the start of 2014) in New York."
Braves take advantage of Pirates mistakes
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: Braves starting pitcher Tyrell Jenkins had another good night on the mound, he just didn’t get any run support. Braves scored one run in the bottom of the 3rd inning, but not again until the bottom of the 7th. That’s okay though…Braves scored two in the 7th and two more in the 8th inning to take the victory over the Pirates on Thursday evening. Braves bullpen once again impressed as they went three innings giving up only two hits, one walk, one run and Jim Johnson had a strikeout. Johnson picked up his seventh save of the season.
"Atlanta manager Brian Snitker is willing to go along with some unorthodox base-running decisions if it means a win. All he could do was chuckle about the risky choice made by Adonis Garcia, which led to the deciding runs.Garcia turned a base-running gaffe into the go-ahead run in the Braves’ 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday at Turner Field.The Atlanta third baseman walked with one out in the seventh inning and took second on Ender Inciarte’s single. Garcia then wandered off second base against left-handed reliever Felipe Rivero and inexplicably took off for third.“I don’t think we have that in our playbook,” Snitker said."