ATLANTA — Taking three cuts following the Braves' 7-2 win over the Pirates at Turner Field Monday night.
Brian McCann chopped Mike Zagurski's four-seam fastball into left field and rounded first base. As he stood there, the Turner Field jumbotron flashed that it was the 1,000th hit of the catcher's career as the fans stood, cheering.
He held his batting helmet aloft, saluting the crowd as he became the eighth player in team history to hit the milestone and the first since Andruw Jones did it on May 30, 2003.
"It's a cool moment," McCann said, standing in front of his locker, where a congratulatory bottle of champagne sat. "When you're a kid you never think you're going to get a hit in the majors, let alone 1,000."
The future is uncertain for McCann in Atlanta. A free agent this winter, there is speculation that his ninth season in a Braves uniform could be his last. But his past and present with the team he grew up rooting for are undeniable.
"That makes (the moment) more special for me," McCann said. "I grew up (here). This is where I live; 20 minutes north, I've lived there for a long time. To make it up here in the big leagues and to stay for a while, it's something I'll never forget."
Since 2006, his first full season in the majors, he boasts a resume that leads all catchers in home runs (158), extra base hits (368), RBI (598), two-out RBI (250) and game-winning RBI (74).
And on a team that isn't lacking for power, McCann has been the most consistent provider of it.
While Justin Upton has a team-high 14 homers, Evan Gattis isn't far behind (12) and red-hot Freddie Freeman added his third in five games Monday, it's McCann that has the best home run rate of any Brave.
McCann, who missed 30 games rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery, went deep for the seventh time, taking A.J. Burnett's 3-2 sinker to right field in the fourth inning. That shot gives him a HR in every 12.4 plate appearances, besting Gattis (13.4), Upton (16.9), Dan Uggla (21.0), who has 10 homers, and Freeman (31.3).
It's a surprising show, as last year it took McCann 160 plate appearances to reach seven homers. This year, he did it in 84.
"He's been great," manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "Hopefully he stays healthy throughout the year. It gets a big bat in our lineup."
There had been two truths to Kris Medlen's last nine starts: he wasn't getting any run support and his command, at times, just wasn't there.
But he knew long before the first pitch Monday night that this would be different.
"It was just one of those days where I just woke up and told myself 'You're going to do good today. This is the day where everything is going to click,'" he said. "And, you know, for the most part it felt like it kind of did.
Medlen (2-6) put those past tenants to rest with seven strong innings in which he allowed seven hits with six strikeouts, zero walks and one unearned run for his first victory since April 9 against the Marlins.
The biggest difference was an ability to find the level of command he flashed so often last season during that run of 23 straight Braves wins in games he started.
Heading into Monday, Medlen's fastball sat at a minus-3.3 in FanGraphs' Pitch Values — which quantifies the runs saved by pitch — after posting an 11.9 last season. The main culprit was his pitch placement, but Medlen hit his groove against the Pirates.
"I was finally locating some fastballs," Medlen said. "Some of the hits I gave up, I felt like they were pretty well located. They just put some decent swings on them ... it's the big leagues, guys know how to hit the ball. Some well-placed balls, but for the most part I felt like I just located in and out better today."
It didn't hurt that Medlen, who came in getting an average of 2.8 runs of support a game, including three in his last four outings, saw the Braves plate seven vs. Pittsburgh.
"Any time you get run support like that you have to take advantage of it," Medlen said. "I always try to stay aggressive, especially when you get that kind of run support."
No umpire calls more strikeouts per game than Dan Iassogna, averaging 18.4. He's also among the fewest when it comes to walks per game (4.9).
So maybe that's why the Pirates lost it in the fourth inning.
Iassogna gave Burnett a warning after he argued Ball 1 to Medlen, but when Burnett threw the same sinker to Medlen on his second pitch and missed again, Russell Martin had enough. The catcher took off his mask, arguing with Iassogna before being tossed. Manager Clint Hurdle followed, and after a lengthy exchange, he too was ejected.
Whether the incident had an impact or not, Burnett wasn't the same after them. Over the next eight batters he faced, he allowed two homers, two singles and a double.
But the Pirates weren't the only ones who had issues with Iassogna. The Braves had been voicing their displeasure with him, including Justin Upton, who exchanged words with him before tossing his bat, helmet and batting gloves following a third-inning strikeout.
