ATLANTA -- Taking three cuts after the Braves' continued their home-and-home series against the Blue Jays with a 3-0 loss at Turner Field on Wednesday night.
It was a nightmare scenario for the slimmed-down bullpen.
Kris Medlen took an Emilio Bonifacio liner off his left leg in the second inning, pirouetting as he watched the ball pop into the air and down behind the mound. After a visit from the trainer, Medlen would take a warm-up pitch and stay in the game, but it wouldn't last.
Melden, diagnosed with a left upper-calf contusion, was relieved after two innings in which he gave up three earned runs and four hits. He is expected to make his next start, but suddenly a bullpen that is carrying six men was going to have to shoulder the load.
They were up to the task.
"They picked me up big time," said Medlen, who was battling laryngitis. "I mean, I was the worst pitcher out there today."
David Carpenter threw the third, fourth and fifth innings and while he got off to a rocky start, walking four of the first nine batters he faced, he gave up just one hit. Anthony Varvaro yielded two hits over two innings, Jordan Walden, in his return form the disabled list, struck out two in the seventh and Cory Gearrin pitched the ninth.
But most importantly, not a one of them allowed a run.
"That was great," Walden said. "Carpenter, me, AV and Cory at the end, it's awesome how the bullpen can come in and throw up zeroes like, especially a short bullpen like we have."
Unfortunately for the relievers they didn't get much help from an offense that was shut out for the seventh time this season and the first since May 14 at Arizona.
"We never got some really good at-bats against their three guys they ran out of the bullpen," Gonzalez said. "Three runs for us is doable and our bullpen did a nice job."
Still it was a strong performance from the relievers, and after giving up three leads in the past five games, it was also a much-needed one too.
April belonged to Justin Upton, who was named the National League's player of the month after hitting .298/.402/.734 with 12 home runs, which led the majors and he tied for the lead in extra base hits.
May, though, been a very different story.
This month he has a .232/.360/.366 slash line with two home runs and in the nine games since his last HR (May 18), Upton has a .153 average (6-for-35) with just one extra base hit.
Upton would strike out in his first three plate appearances in the loss, marking six of his last seven at-bats and 10 of 16. His strikeout rate now sits at 27.8 percent, which would have ranked 17th in baseball heading into Wednesday. That figure is also just below the highest of his career at 29 percent in 2008, his first full season in the majors.
Still, it's simply a rough patch. No one could have or should have expected Upton to continue his torrid start, when near the end of April he was on pace for 89 home runs. It's just that he was so impressive over that first month it makes a stretch like that that much more glaring.
The Braves managed four hits in the loss, two of which came courtesy of Freddie Freeman. He continued his hot streak, leading off the second inning with a triple -- his first since Sept. 15, 2012 and the third of his career -- though he would get caught in a rundown between third and home. He also added a fourth-inning single.
Since May 3, Freeman is now hitting .316 with two homers, six doubles and a triple and has 19 RBIs.
"He's swinging the bat," Gonzalez said.
It may be coming at the perfect time, given the Braves' promotional schedule.
Thursday is Freddie Freeman Bobblehead Night at Turner Field, and often it's been a precursor to a strong personal performance (think back to Chipper Jones' two homer night last season) but it hasn't all been good as the Nationals' Ryan Zimmerman struck out four times on his bobblehead game in '10.
It's unlikely many players can match this Freeman note, though: this will be his second bobblehead night in 12 days as Triple-A Gwinnett handed out Freeman statues on May 18.
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