Atlanta Braves Game Recap: Garcia solid, bats were liquid.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… solid work from the Atlanta starter, but the off… oh, you have heard it before.
Since the Atlanta Braves unleashed a 14 run outburst on Philadelphia on Wednesday, the bats have gone mostly silent, scoring 3, 3, 1, and 1 runs while managing to split those contests.
Today… yet another Met comes back from injury and dominates the Braves. This time it was starting pitcher Seth Lugo, who got through 7 innings – seemingly getting stronger as he went. Lugo finished with 6K, 6 hits, 2 walks, and out-pitched his counterpart by a slim (replay reviewed) margin.
So the Braves drop 3 of the 4 games in this busy weekend series to the Mets (while scoring just 3 times total) and maintain a third place tie with the Marlins at 27-35.
RISPy Business
That’s not to say that Atlanta didn’t have chances, but almost none of those opportunities were cashed in. They managed 2 runners on base in each of the first and second innings, yet failed to score – albeit with 2 outs involved each time.
The run that was scored came from early action in the second inning. A Tyler Flowers double, groundout, and sacrifice fly (Swanson) led to an early equalizer.
Another opportunity came about in the 5th inning, thanks to singles from Ender Inciarte, Nick Markakis, and then a walk to Matt Kemp.
However, with 1 out, Matt Adams hit into a double play to kill that threat as well, though it took a Mets’ replay request to reveal that Adams was indeed barely out at first – overturning the original call.
Ergo… inning done… no run scored.
Meanwhile, Up on the Hill
Jaime Garcia was solid once again. 7 hits, 2 walks and a season-high 9 strikeouts over 7 innings was marred only by a couple of runs – the result of a sacrifice fly and infield single.
In the 4th with his club already down 2-1, Garcia got into a jam immediately after a Jay Bruce lead-off double. Garcia then walked Neil Walker and wild-pitched both runners to their respective next bases.
After that… damage control: strike out, strike out, intentional walk, and a third strike out.
No Met scored that inning.
Garcia’s ERA for the year is now down to 3.16, allowing 2, 3, 0, 0, 1 runs in his last 5 starts since the middle of May.
That moves him past Zack Greinke for 11th best in the NL among qualified starters… and probably into the top 5 among Most Available Starters at the Trade Deadline.
So it’s certainly worth giving kudos to Garcia now… for it’s likely that Braves fans will enjoy his work only for the next 6 weeks or so.
It doesn’t get any easier: the Braves head to Washington to face the Nationals on Monday evening. Interesting matchup on the mound: Folty vs. Strasburg.