Braves 6, Pirates 1

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Atlanta Braves – Box Score – April 27, 2012 – ESPN.

That was close for a long way, but the Braves eventually broke it open. It’s only the Pirates, but it’s good to see them get some “extra” runs across.

The Braves took the lead in the third when Tyler Pastornicky walked, went to second on a bunt, and scored on a Martin Prado single. But the Pirates tied it up in the fourth and could easily have had more. They had the bases loaded with one out after Tommy Hanson gave up a couple of walks, but got a double play to get out of it.

In the bottom of the inning, Jason Heyward walked and stole second, and came home on a single by Pastornicky. It stayed 2-1 until the seventh, when the Braves loaded the bases against the Pirate bullpen with a single by Prado and walks by Freddie Freeman and David Ross (in for a banged-up, day-to-day Brian McCann). Dan Uggla doubled to score two, and Chipper Jones followed with a single to score two more.

Kris Medlen pitched the last three innings to pick up the save. I dunno. At any rate, he allowed one baserunner (on a walk) and didn’t strike anyone out.

130 thoughts on “Braves 6, Pirates 1”

  1. Don’t understate this achievement. This is the first time all season the Pirates have allowed six runs. This is a championship-caliber offense right now.

    I also have to say that Fredi did the right thing by keeping Medlen in the game (and O’Ventbrel out). Adapting to changing circumstances? Is our Fredi learning? I know, I’m scared too.

  2. Dan Uggla’s circus catch in shallow center is the #1 top play on Sports Center this morning and Chipper’s diving catch is #9. I can’t remember the last time I saw the Braves get a top play, much less two of them.

  3. Yeah, I’m definitely loving the 3-inning use of Medlen. If he can’t be in the rotation, let him be a lights-out reliever for multiple innings. Having a starter-quality reliever is such a great option to have, and allows us to not have to label things “Frediocy”.

  4. And Medlen’s walk was with two out in the top of the 9th after seemingly getting squeezed by the home plate umpire.

    And yes, it was the first time all year the Pirates gave up 6 runs. Let’s keep it rolling with Randall!

  5. The only bad thing that happened last night was McCann pulling the ribcage muscle blocking the ball in the dirt.

    I hate you Tommy Hanson!

    Braves are one game back of the Nats in the East, 2 games ahead of the third place Mets. Phils are still scuffling and the Marlins have lost 6 in a row.

  7. 2- They didn’t mention Uggla looking for a high-five from the ump, which was a hilarious exclamation point on a great play.

    Also, I think Evan Meek could have made the list for snaring Freddie’s liner.

  8. I never count pitchers snaring line drives like Meek did as a “great defensive play” personally. When you’re on the mound and one comes back at you like that, you just twitch and throw the glove up (mostly to protect your face.) It’s not a play, it’s an instinctual reaction where the ball ends up stuck in the webbing of the glove.

  10. @6

    It’s certainly not often that you allow 9 baserunners in 6 innings and give up 1 run. He walks the line, that’s for sure.

    JJ walked a similar line. Uh oh.

  12. Chipper at least moved (slightly) laterally to his left. That’s a defensive play, although it’s more instinct at 3B than not, most of the time. That’s why they call it “the hot corner,” etc.

  13. I dunno. If we’re talking Sportscenter highlights, I just want to see mindlessly cool-looking stuff happen over and over again. I don’t want to dwell on if it’s actually a good play or not. Many of the best plays are ones that are not that exciting to watch, IMO. I’d bet half of the diving outfield grabs they show could’ve been prevented if the defender got a better jump on the ball to begin with or something — and the real defensive highlight is someone reading the batter and ball well and gliding a good distance to be camped under the ball before it lands, Andruw-style.

    At least Andruw had the decency to not look at the ball when he caught it, just to confirm how great he was at fielding to those who’d be fooled by how easy he made it look.

  14. @10, Tommy’s WHIP is above his normal level in the early going, but striking out 28 in 30 IP helps. That’s better than Jurrjens could ever say.

  16. Bad plays make great highlights, particularly in the OF. A bad jump and/or a bad route to the ball will make a crappy play look “spectacular.” Take, for example, Garrett Jones’ catch of Freddie Freeman’s low liner in RF last night. He didn’t see the ball off the bat, got a terrible jump and had to dive/roll just to make the play. He was lucky he caught the ball, and doubly lucky Bourn didn’t take 3B on his goofiness out there. He should have caught that ball chest high on the run into the infield.

    But he fell down and rolled around so people talked about how “great” the play was.

  18. 15 – Wasn’t Medlen a shortstop when he was drafted? Must help on the good D and hitting.

  19. Many “star” outfielders make the easy play look hard. Other make the hard play look easy. Some do both.

  21. No discussion of bad outfielders making highlight reels is complete without mention of Nate the Great and his Gold Glove.

  24. Watching the Cards/Brewers game. So far, Kyle Lohse:2012::Jair Jurrjens:2011. (I hope I did that right.)

  25. Anybody else remember the diving catch Rufino Linares made to save a game? After the game, asked about the catch, he said: “I see ball. I run for ball. I dive for ball. I look in front of me. No ball. I look behind me. No ball. I look in glove. Ball. I say – Rufino, you one lucky guy.”

  31. I’m not sure if the quote above is my favorite or not from Rufino. I also liked when they interviewed him and asked him about his ability to hit righties and lefties about the same. He said “Right hander, left hander, it don’t matter to me, I just heet the ball!” A little later they asked him a completely unrelated question about what he thought about the Braves’ chances for the year. His response was, “Right hander, left hander, it don’t matter to me, I just heet the ball!”

  37. Ugh..huge pet peeve of mine regarding out lead off hitters…I don’t care how hard Bourn hit that pitch, it was a terrible piece of hitting. 2-0 count leading off the inning and you need to make Bedard throw a strike.

  42. Delgado sucks. It’s a pity Jurrjens was so awful or he would have been gone with Hudson’s impending return.

  45. Delgado has no out pitch it would appear…gets 2 strikes, allows hits on belt high pitches

  48. Three runs against the Pirates is like six against a real offense, so of course Livan’s up. If there must be such a time as Livan Time, then this is it.

  50. Could Livan really be worse than Delgado tonight? Delgado has absolutely nothing tonight and it makes me wonder if Medlan wouldn’t be a much better choice as the 5th starter. I know it is early in their careers, but put me in the camp that is less than impressed with the stable of young pitching we refused to trade for major league ready players ver the last couple of years

  51. Medlen would be the better option as a starter but they aren’t going to use him. They like having him as long relief too much.

  52. Delgado has a decent k rate this year, which is encouraging. His problem so far seems to be that he’s hittable, but altogether he actually looks better than last season when his sparkling ERA covered up some awful peripherals.

    None of that is to say he shouldn’t be in the minors. He should be. Medlen should be starting.

  53. At least Delgado didn’t walk the pitcher on four that weren’t even close for a run, then give up a grand slam.

    His ERA now (6.62) is rapidly approaching 6.66.

  54. Well, the Braves might be stretching Medlen out and not wanting to advertise that to the league. /morewishfulthinking

  60. The highest amount of runs scored this year by the Pirates is five; on April 8th against the Phillies and one other time on April 24th against the Rockies.

  61. I would be pissed if I had bought a ticket for this game…listless, absolutely listless

  64. On one hand, it’s good that Delgado got out of that mess; on the other hand, the last four hitters he faced were batting well under .200, so it’s not that impressive.

  67. @58
    I guess Fredi’s not intelligent enough to realize he can be the backup catcher and start in LF at the same time.

  71. @67: I think the worry is that Diaz will wind up injured and Ross will (separately) have to exit the game, putting us on another emergency catcher.

    Of course, that only matters if Diaz is vastly better than the next guy in line.

  74. @71
    Well, if they’re going to look at it that way then the logical thing would be to forfeit.

  76. Announcers are talking about Diaz: Fredi quoted using the same reasoning I just mentioned.

  79. For what (little) it’s worth, I’d have played Diaz. They just showed a stat for hitters v Bedard tonight:
    RH: 4/5
    LH: 0/7

    On the season v Bedard, RH are hitting .303, LH hitting .077

  83. Diaz can’t start in left, because if Ross got hurt, he’e only have Chipper and Eric Hinske to fill in.

    I think he’s got a complex.

    Actually, wasn’t Fredo a catcher in the minors?

  86. @83 come to think of it, he’d also have Francisco to go with Chipper and Hinske.

  88. Back-to-back doubles, and four runs in 4 1/3 innings, to these guys? Fredi needs to go out there with Randall’s suitcase.

  97. At our best, this is a championship offense. At our worst, it’s last September’s offense.

  111. I was amused by Bourn’s disgusted look as he was doubled up. Was the only thing that made that bearable.

  112. Honestly, when’s the last time a major league team had two long relievers as good as Medlen and Martinez?

  113. I won $20 bucks off my buddy, betting that Martin wouldn’t take another pitch once the count got to 3-1.

  114. What does Delgado’s pitching line tonight look like when adjusted for a league average offense?

  118. @117

    So? That might be the most interesting thing out there tonight. Well, other than Ross snapping his bat over his knee.

    Speaking of that, hasn’t Ross ‘executed’ seceral bats just like that in the past? I seem to recall that he’s done that more than once before tonight anyway.

  120. lol, Chip’s call was hilarious.

    Not verbatim: “Hinske can make this a one-run game with one swing of the bat. Here’s the pitch. Swung, high drive, deep to right-center! Hinkse has!”–he wanted to say tied this ballgame–“…been caught.”

  121. @120, it was reminiscent of that Ryan Howard playoff game call. I’m sure he’s a nice guy but he is one terrible announcer.

  123. Looking at Delgado’s stats, I forgot he’s only logged about 20 innings in AAA. In a sense, he has improved, in that his strikeout rate is quite good now (SSS caveat). But not only are we failing to allocate innings to the better pitcher (Medlen), but we also risk messing with the development of a 22 year-old whose cost-controlled talent we’re likely to really need in the coming years. For the team’s sake and his, how is starting Medlen not the best decision?

  124. Well if you start Medlen, you’ll be seeing a lot more of Durbin and Hernandez. Glavine had to work through 3+ pretty mundane seasons from 21 to 25. I wouldn’t pull the trigger just yet, at least until Hudson returns.

  126. At least we didn’t lose any ground; Kemp just went deep off of Gorzelanny to win their game for the Dodgers.

  128. @124, I think if we keep starting Delgado, we’ll be seeing a lot more of Durbin and Hernandez, regardless!

    I get the point, though. If Delgado develops along the same trajectory as Glavine, at least he’s eating innings. And then we get a couple superstar seasons before he’s out the door, since we can’t afford to keep him. Sigh.

    @125, Maybe. Beachy wasn’t hyped either, but Medlen may not have Beachy’s ceiling.

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