ATLANTA -- Behind a first-inning grand slam off the bat of third baseman Mark Reynolds, the Milwaukee Brewers sprinted out of the gate and never looked back on Wednesday night, beating the Atlanta Braves 6-1 to give themselves a chance to even the series in Thursday's finale. Here are three observations from the game:
Prior to Wednesday's loss, manager Fredi Gonzalez once again deflected all talks concerning a staff ace. The questions were centered around young star Julio Teheran, who pitched a complete game gem against the Brewers the night before, becoming the first Braves pitcher since Greg Maddux in 2001 to post two shutouts in a single season. Gonzalez is not ready to crown Teheran as his ace (for what it's worth, Aaron Harang still leads all Atlanta pitchers in WAR), but his definition still echoed in the aftermath of the 6-1 loss.
To Gonzalez, an ace is a guy who "continues winning streaks and stops losing streaks."
In that context, Ervin Santana came up a little short in this audition. Following a disastrous first inning, the veteran righty could not preserve the Braves' three-game winning streak. It's the second below-average start in a row for Santana, but he said this time around it was a matter of early-inning mechanics, which was not the problem for him in St. Louis.
"I was a little bit off the outside corner. I was just trying to pull too much of the (right) arm to the first-base side and that's why I didn't have the location," said the 31-year-old, who gave up six runs in seven innings. " ... Every pitch. The first few innings, I don't have any location or anything. For the most part I was just trying to keep the ball down and that's what happens when you make mistakes."
The 2013 season may have been one of Ervin Santana's very best in the major leagues, but it did not come without difficulty either. There were rough patches, they just happened to be outnumbered by quality outings. Though he eventually posted a 127 ERA+ (tying his 2008 All-Star season for the best mark of his career), there were two separate occasions when he allowed nine or more runs in a two-start span.
The theme: even very good seasons come with road blocks.
Santana seems to be hitting one right now.
After exploding onto Atlanta's baseball scene by allowing just nine earned runs in his first six starts, including two shutout appearances over a span of 40 2/3 innings pitched, the Cardinals and Brewers have blown up Santana's impressive early stat line. Following an outing that was ruined by two long balls, Santana has now given up 11 runs in his past two starts. The Brewers got the ball rolling early, loading the bases in the first inning for Reynolds, who took a first-pitch slider -- Gonzalez called it a "cement-mixer slider" -- into the stands in left field. It was the first grand slam Santana has given up in his 10-year career.
"I thought, other than that (first inning), I thought he did good. I thought he did a nice job, really," Gonzalez said of Santana's performance. "They hit the ball hard in the first inning and come out with the bases loaded and then he made a mistake to Reynolds to put us down 4-0. ... He battled the rest of the way."
What's interesting is that, of the Braves' pitchers who have performed so extraordinarily over the first two months of the season, it is Santana, the player holding onto the best track record and the one who is being paid like a top-of-the-line starter, who has come back down from those early-season heights so abruptly.
Harang has backed up his horrid nine-run outing in Miami with three straight solid starts allowing just two earned runs apiece, Gavin Floyd and Mike Minor have barely gotten their feet wet this season and Alex Wood and David Hale are now in the bullpen. So although the odds were titled against him, Santana is the first to approach anything that can be considered a "pitching slump." And yet he's still holding onto a 3.42 ERA and 3.05 FIP -- numbers that are very comparable, arguably better, than those from last season. He's hit some stumbling blocks, but he's not exactly at the back of the pack.
Going back to those two rough stretches last season, Santana did, as his final numbers suggest, bounce back. He followed up both slumps with two separate runs of four starts allowing four or fewer earned runs. He's been down this road before. He seems confident he can do it again.
"It happens. Bad starts are gonna happen," Santana said. "I just have to be prepared for that and just get my mind right and stay positive and just keep throwing strikes."
The Braves offense, once placed in the four-run hole, simply could not mount any sort of comeback against Milwaukee starter Kyle Lohse, who has enjoyed his own level of success against Atlanta in recent seasons, collecting just four hits and striking out eight times over his eight innings of work. Lohse has now allowed four runs in his past three starts against the Braves, each one marked not by pure stuff but by command and pitch selection.
"He mixes it well," Gonzalez said. "You expect a fastball, he throws you a little cutter. You expect a cutter and he throws you a fastball. Not overpowering, but he'll mix a changeup, he'll mix a big curveball. He kept us off-balance today. ... Seemed like he hit all the quadrants of the strike zone -- in, up, down and away -- with all his pitches. And other than Justin, we didn't take very good swings at him."
In Lohse's defense, if he needs any defending after holding an opponent to three runs or fewer in each of his 10 starts this season (2.67 ERA), there aren't many pitchers fooling Justin Upton at Turner Field these days.
The Atlanta left fielder's home and away splits are simply ridiculous at the moment, and after going 3 for 4 with a double against the Brewers, they are only getting more ridiculous. Upton is putting up one of the best offensive seasons in the National League, but almost all of it that production is coming at home (splits entering Wednesday's game):
Not even the crafty and frustrating Lohse -- "He made a lot of mistakes tonight, we just kinda popped them all up," first baseman Freddie Freeman said. -- could derail that trend. Right now, home stands look like buffet lines for Upton.
The Milwaukee Brewers' superstar outfielder put himself in the good graces of the Braves fan base -- a rarity for him -- over the past 24 hours when word got out that he visited a child hit by a foul ball off his bat in the hospital late Tuesday night. Gomez was immediately responsive and sympathetic on the field when the unfortunate event happened, but to hear that he went out of his way to visit the kid (a Braves fan) earned him a respite from the typical boo-birds in Turner Field. At least early on.
They eventually returned to their regularly-scheduled programming, but only because Gomez's talent drew it back out of them.
For the fourth time in his last 12 games against the Braves, Gomez parked one in the outfield seats, finishing 3 for 5 on the night with his 10th home run of the year. His recent punishment of Braves pitching -- coupled with his well-documented and combative (albeit overplayed) recent history with the Atlanta franchise -- drew the healthy ire of the home crowd.
This is the final series these two franchises are scheduled to play this season, and there's not a single Braves pitcher that's going to miss seeing Gomez step into the batter's box. Though his career numbers against Atlanta do not jump off the page -- .228/.292/.380 in the 90 plate appearances prior to Wednesday's game -- he's clearly in the prime of his career and he's established himself as one of the very best players in baseball over the past two seasons.
He's now hitting .298/.374/.560 this season and vying for an spot in what looks to be a loaded National All-Star outfield. The Braves will not have to contribute to that cause again until next season.
