Taking three cuts following the Braves' 5-1 loss to the Giants Sunday in San Francisco.
The bats were pink and so were the wristbands and cleats.
But
while the look was different, the results looked very much like the
last three games of this four-game set with the Giants as the Braves
again struggled at the plate, generating four hits as they suffered
their third straight loss.
After scoring seven runs on nine hits
in the first five innings in San Francisco, Atlanta would have just four
runs on 17 hits the rest the way. They would also be outscored 23-4
following Thursday's 6-3 win.
Sunday's struggles were the most
surprising, not just because of the success the Braves have had against
Tim Lincecum in his last four starts — a run in which Atlanta is 4-0
and Lincecum had a 4.38 ERA — but because he was coming off consecutive
starts in with he had given up five runs.
The Braves had little
answer for the two-time Cy Young winner, though, as he allowed just two
hits and struck out seven over seven innings. It was Sergio Romo that
would be tagged for Atlanta's lone run as Evan Gattis doubled in Dan
Uggla with two outs in the ninth.
Lincecum
also managed to shut down his nemesis, Brian McCann, who entered Sunday
with the best lifetime average (10 for 29, .345 average) of any active
player who has faced Lincecum at least 29 times. He also had a 13-game
streak vs. the Giants. But that streak, along with his dominance
against Lincecum would end as he went 0-for-2, though he did draw two
walks.
For a Braves team looking to bounce back against a pitcher
who had been struggling, they simply found no relief with Lincecum
looking like "The Freak" of old.
It
had been nearly three years since Kris Medlen allowed three home runs
in a start — the last time came June 8, 2010 at Arizona — but he
gave up three in five innings Sunday, solo shots to Brandon Belt in the
second, Pablo Sandoval in the third and Marco Scutaro in the fifth. And
that came on the heels of his bad luck in Cincinnati, where despite
yielding just two runs in seven innings, he ended up with a
no-decision following Craig Kimbrel's woes in the ninth inning.
Overall
in his last four starts on the road, Medlen is 0-3 with a 5.04 ERA and
has been tagged for five home runs. On the season, he now has a 3.44 ERA
and a 1-4 record — which includes losses in his last four
starts — and he's yielded two more home runs in seven outings than he
did in 12 starts after moving from the bullpen last year.
Medlen's
biggest problem has come in the second inning where he has a 11.25 ERA
in those recent road starts and it's the frame in which Belt took him
deep on an 89-mph fastball.
Last season, Medlen was at his best
in the early goings, he had just one inning in the first five in which
he had an ERA more than 0.75 and it came in — you guessed it — the second,
where he stood at 1.50. So this issue isn't exactly new for Medlen, it's
just that it's been that much more glaring the last three weeks.
Medlen
has to be looking forward to his next start, not just because it's a
chance to get back on track, but because it will come on Saturday
against the Dodgers at home, where he has a 2.84 ERA in three starts has
yielded just one homer.
The
younger of the Upton brother's April exploits have been well
documented: a major-league leading — and Braves record — 12 home runs,
along with a .722 slugging percentage. But since the calendar has turned
to May, Upton has looked far less dominant.
He's posting a
.219/.366/313 slash line in 11 games this month with zero homers — in
fact, Upton hasn't gone deep since April 27 in Detroit — and has two
extra-base hits in that span, a triple on Friday and a double on
Saturday against the Giants.
Of course, those frustrations
couldn't come at a worse time as the Braves head to Arizona, where Upton
spent the first six seasons of his career, for a three-game set
beginning Monday.
Upton, a two-time All-Star who finished fourth in the NL MVP voting in '11, told azcentral.com he has no hard feelings about how his run with the Diamondbacks ended.
"I’m
not into the political side of things," he said. "I’m not into talking
in the media. I’m not going to ever say anything bad about them. I
enjoyed playing in Arizona. I’m not going to bad-mouth anybody. I’m here
to play baseball. I feel like that’s the way I portrayed myself when I
was there. I answered the questions that were asked of me and went home
and came to the yard every day. That’s what I’m going to continue to
do.”
The D-backs aren't exactly hurting without Upton — entering
Sunday a game behind the Giants in the West reach — though the main
piece they received for Upton, Martin Prado, is hitting just .236 and it
should be interesting to see the reception Upton receives when he steps
into the batter's box at Chase Field for the first time in a visitor's
uniform.
