The Atlanta Braves could not capitalize on numerous late-game comeback chances on Sunday afternoon, falling to the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 to split the four-game series.
The Braves did not get the excellent pitching they've grown so accustomed to this season, but the offense stranded 10 runners on base, including five in the final two innings, to fall farther back in the divisional standings while failing to erase the one-game deficit in the National League wildcard race. Here are three observations from the game:
The former Reds starter has pitched more games in the once-friendly confines of Cincinnati's park than anywhere else in his career -- and it's not even a close comparison. With 115 career appearances (114 starts) and 713 innings pitched at Great American Ballpark entering this four-game series, Harang knows his way around the place.
Sunday's game did not mark the veteran's first return in an opposing uniform -- he pitched against the Reds twice last season with positive results, holding a 3.00 ERA in 12 innings. But it did mark his first return with something on the line. (His stints with the Mariners and Mets weren't exactly playoff chases.) And the results, while not disastrous, were not so positive.
Everybody keeps trotting out Harang's quality starts counter this season, and though it's not a true measure of pitching success it is telling when a pitcher doesn't meet that six innings-three earned runs threshold.
Harang was solid in the early going, giving up just one hit his first time through the lineup. Even that one hit was a single by shortstop Zack Cozart, the weakest hitter in the Reds lineup, and he never advanced past first base. Everything was running smoothly until the fourth inning. Then came the slow, excruciating downfall of his outing as single after single added up until three runs were on the board.
Harang gave up five singles and a sacrifice fly in the fourth -- it could have been more were it not for Heyward's diving catch on the sac fly -- and only made it throughout 5 1/3 innings, one of his five shortest outings of the year. Then again, it could have been a shutout inning. Harang was more concerned with his costly mental mistake not covering first base that allowed the Reds to post a big inning than he was his pitching performance.
"I'll take blame for that whole thing, because if I cover first like I routinely do, next guy flies out to right (field), inning's over, no runs score. It's a tough one to swallow, especially when we've been playing so well," Harang said of Cincy outfielder Jay Bruce's single up the first-base line. "To go out and end up losing on one mental error in a game and having cost ya the victory, it really stinks. ... My mental lapse just cost us."
Added manager Fredi Gonzalez: "I think he thought that the ball was foul. He broke (for first base) right away and he kinda stopped, and it was a fair ball. And that was a three-run inning there. But he did his normal stuff, you know? Kinda navigated through the lineup and not give in. But that one inning was big."
When all was said and done, Harang left the game with the Braves trailing 4-0. He pitched better than the numbers show, striking out five and walking only two for a 2.38 FIP on the day (that .444 average on balls in play really hurt on the scoreboard), but it still left his low-scoring offense behind the 8-ball.
Thus far in 2014, Harang has been a what-you-see-is-what-you-get type of player for Atlanta. His ERA and FIP numbers are practically identical, he's eating up innings as the No. 4 or 5 starter and, for what it's worth, the overwhelming majority of his starts have been "quality." He probably wanted more out of this one, though.
"Felt like I was making some good pitches and really keeping them off-balance, and after that mental mistake they really took advantage of it," Harang said. "The guys battled. We were right there until the end."
Harang and Gonzalez were correct in their postgame comments: the comeback was on. The Braves had every opportunity to erase three games-worth of offensive struggles in the final two innings, coming up with four hits (one home run) and three walks in the eighth and ninth frames against a struggling Reds bullpen. They walked away with only two runs during that stretch.
The big hit never arrived.
Gonzalez hardly could have scripted better chances for his team to erase the four-run deficit.
In the eighth, Jason Heyward and Phil Gosselin led off with a walk and a single, respectively, to set up the middle of the lineup -- Freddie Freeman, Justin Upton and Chris Johnson -- with two runners on and zero outs. They responded with a groundout, which should have been a double-play ball, from Freeman and two strikeouts. In the ninth, Evan Gattis opened the frame with his 20th home run of the season, becoming the eighth catcher in franchise history to hit the 20-homer plateau, and was followed by Emilio Bonifacio, Heyward, Gosselin and Freeman reaching base to drive in another run and to load the bases with two outs for Upton.
"(We) had the bases loaded with the hottest hitter in baseball up at the plate," Gonzalez said. "You kinda feel good about your club the way they battled back."
Upton couldn't seal the deal, though. The Atlanta left fielder, who has emerged as a potential NL MVP candidate with his recent offensive surge, hit a weak chopper to second base to end the game and allow Cincinnati to knot the series.
As was mentioned to Gonzalez in the postgame press conference, the Braves are now 3 for 22 over the past three games with runners in scoring position (2 for 10 on Sunday). They've scored just six runs in those three games, with only one coming before the seventh inning.
The resiliency is admirable, but it's yet another example of the hot-and-cold nature of this unit. But after showing signs of life against Oakland, Pittsburgh and the eight-run series opener versus the Reds, it's fair to say the offense is in another funk.
"When you don't score a run, you're going to get those types of (RISP) numbers. It goes hand-in-hand," Gonzalez said. "We had the right guys at the plate there in the ninth inning. ... It's hard in a four-game series to sweep or even win three out of four. But I'll you this: I like the way we battled back tonight after losing 1-0 yesterday."
Gonzalez has taken that postgame approach quite a bit with this group.
Consistency would be an upgrade over resiliency, though.
Looking back over the wreckage that has all too often plagued the top of the Braves' lineup this season, it's still astounding to see just how much better Jason Heyward has been than everyone else Gonzalez has tried. It's not even a close call. It's a couple recreational joggers running a marathon against Meb.
Of course, the reasons for moving Heyward out of the spot to begin with have been discussed at length: (1) B.J. Upton owned better numbers there than he did anywhere else in the lineup; (2) They tried to instill some confidence in B.J. Upton; (3) They wanted Heyward's productive bat in the middle of the lineup to function as a run producer; (4) They were willing to try just about anything to get out of MLB's scoring cellar; (5) All of the above plus other mitigating factors.
None of that worked, though. The only thing that has worked at the top is the strategy the Braves entered the campaign with: plug the 6-foot-5 guy in the No. 1 hole and go from there.
Another excellent performance from Heyward on Sunday only underscored what having him setting the table -- as opposed to anyone else the Braves have tried -- means for this team. Sure, the runs never came in bunches. But it's difficult to blame the guy who reached base three times (two hits, one walk) in five plate appearances.
Entering the game, here's how the Braves' leadoff options stacked up (ordered by most plate appearances currently on 25-man roster):
This is not exactly news. But it's worth revisiting on a day in which Atlanta's offense again went quiet. If it weren't for Heyward's return to the leadoff spot, it's difficult to say just where this team would be right now.
Still one game back in the wildcard? Perhaps with some excellent pitching. But not likely.
