Atlanta Braves news: morning chop, box score, Arodys Vizcaino does something we’ve probably never seen before
By Jeff Schafer
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: This loss stung a little bit more than the rest of them. The Atlanta Braves had the Washington Nationals right where we wanted them. The Braves were leading late and had the Nats on their heels. You could see it on their faces as the innings ticked away…it was the look of “how are the Braves beating us right now.”
The Nationals put together a six-run 8th inning to defeat the Braves on Wednesday night. The Braves led up until that point 2-1 against the Nats Gio Gonzalez. Braves starting pitching Lucas Sims pitched really well — could have been pitching for his future. Sims went five innings, giving up three hits and one run. He also gave up two walks and had six strikeouts. His lone run he gave up was in the top of the 1st inning when Trea Turner hit a leadoff homer on the first pitch he saw. Sims settled down from there and cruised.
Braves Freddie Freeman got the Braves on the board in the bottom of the 1st inning when he crushed a ball to deep right field. Atlanta’s second run came off the bat of Kurt Suzuki in the bottom of the 5th inning.
The Braves played well, but the bullpen gave the game away late for them. See below about Jose Ramirez and Arodys Vizcaino’s struggles.
Braves lose 7-3
| Batting | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ozzie Albies 2B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | .272 | .352 | .450 | .802 |
| Micah Johnson PR-LF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Johan Camargo 3B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .305 | .336 | .468 | .804 |
| Freddie Freeman 1B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .317 | .412 | .611 | 1.023 |
| Nick Markakis RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .274 | .354 | .387 | .741 |
| Kurt Suzuki C | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .267 | .340 | .502 | .842 |
| Adonis Garcia LF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | .236 | .270 | .333 | .603 |
| Jose Ramirez P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Arodys Vizcaino P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Rex Brothers P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Luke Jackson P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Matt Kemp PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .278 | .320 | .467 | .786 |
| Lane Adams CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | .286 | .371 | .468 | .838 |
| Dansby Swanson SS | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | .233 | .316 | .333 | .649 |
| Lucas Sims P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| A.J. Minter P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Rio Ruiz PH | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .203 | .275 | .305 | .579 |
| Sam Freeman P | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Jace Peterson LF-2B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .210 | .302 | .311 | .613 |
| Team Totals | 31 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 33 | .129 | .182 | .419 | .601 |
| Pitching | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucas Sims | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 5.14 |
| A.J. Minter, H (3) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2.45 |
| Sam Freeman, H (12) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.75 |
| Jose Ramirez, H (27), L (2-3) | 0.1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3.08 |
| Arodys Vizcaino, BS (3) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2.98 |
| Rex Brothers | 0.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7.65 |
| Luke Jackson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4.63 |
| Team Totals | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 7.00 |
Nationals rally to beat Braves
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: I was watching this Atlanta Braves against the Washington Nationals game at a bar after my softball game last night and was kind of surprised when I walked in to see us leading 2-1. I got there in the 5th inning, right as Kurt Suzuki hit his solo homer. I thought to myself, “heck yes! Braves have got the Nationals once again!”
The 8th inning started off well, and then it went to the gutter. Jose Ramirez struck out the leadoff hitter, but then gave up a single, a double and a walk to load the bases. In comes our “closer” Arodys Vizcaino. Maybe he wasn’t ready to come into the game yet, maybe he was hoping Ramirez would get out of this jam or someone else would clean up the issues. In all fairness, he was put in a very tough position. BUT…what came next was unheard of.
Vizzy walked three straight batters AS the bases were LOADED!! I couldn’t believe was I was seeing. By the third walk, I had to just laugh and count the losses.
Vizcaino was obviously upset after the game and left the ballpark without talking to the media. It will be interesting to see where the Braves go from here.
"Braves closer Arodys Vizcaino issued three bases-loaded walks in the six-run eighth, Gio Gonzalez pitched seven strong innings and the Washington Nationals beat Atlanta 7-3 on Wednesday night.The NL East champion Nationals rallied from a 2-1 deficit for their third straight win.Pinch-hitter Wilmer Difo singled, Trea Turner doubled and Jayson Werth walked in the eighth against Jose Ramirez (2-3). Braves manager Brian Snitker brought in Vizcaino, and the move quickly backfired."
Next: Braves will have a new home come 2019!
Why Brian Snitker isn’t the right manager for the Braves’ future
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: I agree with Mark Bradley here and that’s why I’m posting this on our site. Snitker has done a great job, let’s pat him on the back and say “do you mind going to Gwinnett or being our third base coach?” My point is to keep Snitker somewhere in the Braves organization. But my other point is that we need someone else managing this team.
At this point in the season, with 11 games left, I feel as though the Braves will make a move this offseason with their manager position. We probably would have heard by now that the Braves are picking up his second-year option and that Snitker is returning, but we haven’t. Snit is a great guy and the players enjoy playing for him, but I think we can get that elsewhere as well.
We’ve written a few manager options for 2018 on Tomahawk Take…check one out here.
"Last fall’s decision to remove the “interim” part of Brian Snitker’s title wasn’t easy. The Braves came close to hiring Bud Black, who will receive a lot of manager-of-the-year votes for his work with Colorado. In the cold light of hindsight, they would have done better with Black.The Braves made two mistakes in October: They allowed sentiment – upper management felt indebted to Snitker for putting a smiley face on a season that was headed toward 110 losses – to override down-the-road planning, and then they hedged that bet. They gave Snitker a one-year contract, which was the equivalent of again rendering him an interim manager.The reason the Braves need to move on from Snitker isn’t that he hasn’t won enough games, though we can never fully discount W’s and L’s. (If these Braves were 82-67 and not 67-82, he’d be getting another one-year extension.) The issue is that he has too often managed like an interim manager, which isn’t what a rebuilding team needs."