ST. LOUIS — The Braves had a lead, and they threw everything at the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader. Out of the bullpen, they went to Pierce Johnson, Joe Jiménez and closer Raisel Iglesias – in that order – for the final three innings.
The Braves defeated the Cardinals 6-2 in Game 1, which was the makeup game for Tuesday’s postponement. Ironically, the game started late because of inclement weather.
The Braves eventually lost Game 2, 4-1, as they settled for a doubleheader split. But this meant they lost the series.
Five observations on the Game 1 win:
1. On Monday, with runners on first and second base in a one-run game, Zack Short struck out swinging to end it.
Two days later, he walked up to the plate in the second inning, with the bases loaded. And this time, he came through as he drove in two runs with a single off Kyle Gibson.
It felt good for Short.
“Especially to do it today after the other night, when I punched (out) with the game on the line,” Short said. “It’s funny: Coming to the field today, for some reason, I had a feeling I was gonna come up in a big situation, especially early.”
Short started at, well, short for Orlando Arcia, who left Monday’s game because of dizziness. (More on Arcia later.) In his first start since May 26, he made the most of his opportunity. In addition to the pair of RBIs, he walked twice and made a nice play at shortstop.
And in that key at-bat, Gibson threw Short three cutters away. He took the first one for a ball, fouled off the second one and spit on the third one – effectively neutralizing Gibson there. He fouled off a sweeper that landed near the middle of the zone.
Then he got a bat on a sweeper low and away – outside the zone – to score the two runs.
“I was a little over-aggressive,” Short said. “I haven’t seen (Gibson) in a few years. I figured they were gonna try and stay away for the most part. With his scouting report, too, he likes to go to the sweeper late. I kind of just was a little too over-aggressive and stayed through the middle just long enough.”
2. In two different innings, Reynaldo López found himself in bases-loaded jams – in the second and the fifth. And twice, he held the Cardinals to a run.
López is baseball’s ERA leader. And entering Wednesday, no pitcher had allowed fewer earned runs through 13 starts than the 13 López had surrendered.
Within that, though, his most impressive feat might be this: After Wednesday, opponents are batting .069 with runners in scoring position versus López. They are 4-for-58 against the right-hander the Braves signed over the offseason.
“I think he does such a good job of tunneling his pitches, and he’s really good at locating on the edges,” Jarred Kelenic said. “As a hitter, when you’re up there with runners in scoring position, you’re trying to really box him up and let him come to you, and not try to do too much, because that’s when you chase. And the problem is, with him, he’s got a lot of pitches that go strike to ball, and he locates around the edges, and that makes it tough for hitters with runners in scoring position to get a good swing on him.”
On Wednesday, López battled. He walked four batters. He gave up four hits. And yet, he only allowed two runs and still went five innings.
The difference in the game: When the Braves loaded the bases in the second, they scored four runs. When the Cardinals loaded them twice, they scored only two runs.
López has been excellent for the Braves.
“Anybody that kind of gets to the Braves, you figure they’re gonna go into some lab and become what he is now,” said Short, who played for Detroit when López was a reliever with the White Sox. “It wasn’t fun facing him out of the ‘pen, and I could only imagine facing him for five to eight innings every time he goes out there.”
3. The Braves clung to a two-run lead. Kelenic gave them breathing room.
In the sixth, he launched a two-run shot to right field.
“I think whether I hit that out or not, we were gonna win that game today,” Kelenic said.
Still, this was important for the Braves, which would’ve lost the series had it dropped this game. And the blast continued this encouraging stretch for Kelenic.
Kelenic didn’t hit a home run over his first 79 plate appearances of the season.
After he smashed one in the sixth inning, he had eight homers in 140 plate appearances, dating to May 7.
“It’s good,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of watching Kelenic develop. “It’s still a small sample right here. No, it’s fun. That’s kind of what keeps you coming back here. I’ve watched this whole team do that. It’s a neat thing to be able to watch those guys grow and pull the layers off of becoming major leaguers, and very successful ones at that.”
4. The Bally Sports South and Southeast broadcast cameras showed Arcia in the dugout. The important part of the scene: He was in a uniform, not in street clothes.
After the game, Snitker said Arcia would be available for the second game, even if he wasn’t in the starting lineup.
“He looks a lot better today,” Snitker said. “Kind of started looking like his old self.”
Arcia didn’t play in Game 2. But following the loss, Snitker said he believes Arcia is healthy enough to start on Thursday in Chicago.
5. Short’s performance is yet another example of the Braves’ next-man-up mentality. The Braves seem to find guys who just contribute whenever called upon.
“That’s just the culture that this organization builds from the top down,” Short said. “You want to be a part of it. You’re staying locked in no matter what. Even Luke (Williams, who didn’t play), he was in there, he was on the top step every pitch today. You wanna be a part of that, you wanna contribute and I just think that’s the mindset the whole (organization) has.”
Stat to know
1.70 - López’s 1.70 ERA is the top mark in MLB among qualified starting pitchers.
Quotable
“Oh, he’s been great. Right there, he hasn’t played in three weeks or whatever and makes a great play and (gets) a big hit, walks, the whole thing. He stays ready, works hard and it’s good to see.” – Snitker on Short
Up next
The Braves will fly to Chicago for a makeup game against the White Sox on Thursday. Chris Sale will start for the Braves, which will face White Sox right-hander Drew Thorpe. The game, which concludes the Braves’ road trip, begins at 4:10 p.m.
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