5/6/17
Teheran’s troubles continue as Braves 7th inning rally comes too late
The Braves pitching troubles continued into game two of a three game series with the Cardinals. For the fourth game in a row the Braves allowed the opposing team to put up the first runs of the game and ultimately putting them in the hole way before the game even starts. Julio Teheran took the mound and two pitches in, gave up a single to Cardinals lead off man, Kolten Wong. A walk followed shortly after, putting two on with two outs and Aledmys Diaz up to bat, who sent a single to left field giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
As the Braves continued to look for offense, the only sign of it came in the form of a Nick Markakis single to left field in the second inning. The Cardinals continued to pressure Teheran with singles and once again broke through in the third and fourth innings with a Matt Carpenter 411 ft 2 run home-run to right field, and a Matt Adams 409 ft solo home-run, extending the Cardinals lead to 4-0. The game then became a pitching duel from the fourth through seventh innings until, once again Aledmys Diaz came through on an RBI sac fly in the seventh bringing the lead to 5-0.
Cardinals pitcher, Mike Leake, who had been on a tear to begin the year looked unstoppable by only giving up one hit in six innings. That was until he finally showed his old self when he gave up double to Matt Kemp, followed by a walk to Nick Markakis, put two on with one out in the bottom of the seventh and Adonis Garcia up to the plate. Garcia jumped on the first pitch, which happened to be a 89 mph fastball that stayed up in the strike zone allowing him to crush a 428 ft 3 run home-run to left-center field, giving the Braves some new life and cutting the lead to 5-3.
The Cardinals made a pitching change and brought their 100 mph relief pitcher, Trevor Rosenthal, to the mound in the bottom of the 8th. Rosenthal had no trouble going through the Braves 9,1,2,and 3 hitters in only 17 pitches. The Cardinals put the game away by sending their closer, Seung-Hwan Oh, to the mound, who put down the side on 15 pitches, earning himself his 7th save of 2017.
The Braves continue to look for answers with their pitching core with no real answers looking bright in the horizon. Hopefully they can figure out what they need to do so they don’t keep this losing streak alive.
The Braves send R.A Dickey (3.94 ERA and a 3-2 record) to the mound to complete the third and final game of this three game series in hopes of avoiding a series sweep and allowing a 4 game losing streak to transpire. Dickey will face Cardinals pitcher, Michael Wacha, (3.23 ERA and a 2-1 record.) Series Finale starts at 1:35pm EST
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