ATLANTA -- Ervin Santana didn't pull any punches after his 10th loss of the season Sunday.
Santana pitched five innings and allowed five earned runs and six hits to the New York Mets. It was just the sixth time he'd allowed five or more earned runs in a start this season. The outing pushed his ERA up to a still-solid 3.88, and the starting pitcher allowed his emotions to show after the game.
"It's tough because we haven't been playing very good lately," said Santana. "As a pitcher, we have our confidence up, but at the same time you have to either throw a complete-game shutout or anything like that to get a win. It's tough, very tough."
New York beat Atlanta 10-2 to complete a weekend, three-game sweep. It was the 60th time this season the Braves have been held to three runs or fewer.
Entering Sunday's game, the Braves ranked 29th among the 30 teams in Major League Baseball with just 554 runs scored. In the month of September, Atlanta has only scored 40 runs, the fewest of any team in baseball.
Santana, obviously frustrated, said he'd never gone through anything like this throughout his entire career.
"From a pitching standpoint, we do our job," said Santana. "And we don't score any runs."
"Of course you've got that on your mind. If you're a starting pitcher, you're going to have that on your mind every time. When you see things like this and you don't score any runs, it's tough for us because you know when we play like this you know when you give up to two runs, three runs, you know it's going to be a tough game. It's hard."
It's been no secret the Braves have had trouble scoring runs. With two starting pitchers with a sub-three ERA, and two with a sub-four, it's also not hard to understand that the success that's been realized this season in Atlanta is because the pitching staff has been superb.
Atlanta's team ERA of 3.39 ranks fifth in MLB and third in the National League. But without run support, the Braves have won just 76 games, and were eliminated from postseason contention on Sunday.
Since the bats went ice cold at the All-Star break, each pitcher on the Braves staff has stood behind the team and squashed any thought of frustration due to the lack of runs. Santana broke free from toeing the company line when he admitted how difficult it's been.
Santana even said he couldn't even enjoy a personal milestone because of the losing ways the Braves have endured. Santana notched the 1,500th strikeout of his career on Sunday, but it barely registered for the 31-year-old hurler.
"It's not even a nice moment because we got the loss anyway," said Santana. "You can enjoy it for a second, and we're back to reality and we lose the game. It's not worth it."
