Atlanta Braves lose game 1 while sending Max Fried and Shane Carle to DL

Tuesday  afternoon didn’t go the way the Atlanta Braves hoped. Their starter left the game after two innings with an injury, the 26th man got shelled and the bullpen made things worse.

The Atlanta Braves planned for Max Fried to throw six innings or more in game one with the bullpen finishing the game. Sean Newcomb would follow the same roadmap in game two.

If anything happened to either starter Kolby Allard would step in and carry the game until the bullpen could close it out.

Fried looked like he could hold up his end of the plan until a line drive hit him in the hip at the end of the second inning.  In an attempt to keep the 104 mph projectile from hitting a vital organ, he pivoted sharply – and ended up with a groin strain.

The Braves day gets worse

Kolby Allard entered as planned but quite quickly it became clear that the rest of the plan required change. After striking the opposing pitcher out. Allard gave up a single to Trea Turner.  What followed that turned into of the oddest plays I’ve ever heard of much less seen.

Juan Soto hit a deep fly ball to left-center that Ender Inciarte made a leaping attempt to catch. The ball flipped out of his glove but left fielder Adam Duvall caught it in the air and uncorked a throw to first base.

Turner thought it was a catch (and in truth we still don’t really know) and busted tail getting back to first to beat the throw. In the process, he passed Soto. Turner made it to first safely but the Nationals asked the umpires to take another look.

Eventually, they decided Soto passed turner and called him out allowing Turner to remain on first.

The Nationals didn’t score but the hard-hit balls were a danger sign.

The rest of the game was worse

Already down 4-1 at that point, the Braves managed a run in the top of the frame on an Ozzie Albies double and a Nick Markakis single.  The game went downhill from there.

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Bryce Harper singled off a middle-middle cookie and Ryan Zimmerman followed him with a monster shot to centerfield.  After two were out, Allard walked Carter Kieboom, pitcher Jefry Rodriguez doubled, Turner singled and Soto singled before the Braves recorded the third out.

Jonny Venters pitched a quiet fifth inning and the Braves added a run in the top of the sixth to bring the game back within reach at 4-2.

Shane Carle entered and gave up four walks as the Nationals batted around again to score four more runs. The Much-maligned Luke Jackson pitched two scoreless frames and Charlie Culberson homered in the ninth but the Braves were abused 8-3 in the loss.

After effects

After the game, the Atlanta Braves announced Carle (right shoulder inflammation) and Fried were sent added to the 10-day disabled list. To fill the vacancies Wes Parsons and Adam McCreery were recalled from Gwinnett.

Parsons made the trip to Atlanta twice before but didn’t make an appearance. Parsons has pitched well (when not shuttling back and forth to Atlanta) as a starter at both AA and AAA levels this year. At Gwinnett, he appeared in 12 games including 10 starts, posting a 3.03 ERA and 1.133 WHIP in 65 1/3 IP.  McCreery’s call-up seems a bit premature.

The Braves promoted the 25-year old lefty to Gwinnett two days ago sending Jason Hursh to Mississippi at the same time. McCreery’s overall numbers for the M-Braves weren’t good; 34 appearances, 47 innings, a 5.74 ERA and 1.723 WHIP.

His last ten outings were however much better – 10 games, 13 1/3 IP, 2.70 ERA, 20 strikeouts and seven walks. He made a single, one-inning appearance for Gwinnett before this afternoon’s call-up.

That’s a wrap

If you’re wondering why Luiz Gohara wasn’t called up, he’s suffered some shoulder issue per Mark Bowman.  Chad Bell – also on the 40-man – apparently isn’t ever coming up, not that it’s a huge omission. Bell hasn’t pitched well at AAA or in his previous big-league opportunities

The Braves don’t seem ready to add Touki Toussaint to the 40-man roster in spite of passionate pleas from the Twitter-scouts.

Both Parsons and McCreery are available for game two, so clearly the Braves had a contingency plan in place.