After a 41-minute rain delay and three runs, Sean Newcomb probably wouldn’t have opposed a mulligan.
He got one. It didn’t matter.
The Braves quickly overcame a three-run deficit, but they couldn’t stall the Rays’ offense, losing 8-5 Wednesday to split a pair of interleague games at SunTrust Park.
Newcomb retired the first two batters quietly before four consecutive Rays reached. Matt Duffy drew a walk and C.J. Cron doubled to set up a two-on, two-out circumstance. Joey Wendle’s single scored both, and Wendle came around on Carlos Gomez’s hit.
Yet the Braves’ offense reset the game in the bottom of the first. Following a pair of outs, Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis singled. Johan Camargo hammered a 99.7 mph fastball out to center for a tied game. That was the fastest pitch resulting in a home run this season, according to Statcast.
Camargo finished with three hits, a walk and two runs scored. He’s hitting over .340 in the fifth spot of the lineup (21 games).
“I definitely feel more confidence, but I don’t try to put my mind on (proving myself),” he said through team interpreter Franco Garcia. “I just work hard and try to stay consistent and play baseball hard the way I do every day.”
Newcomb struck out Jesus Sucre and pitcher Diego Castillo in the second, yet singles by Willy Adames and Tommy Pham produced more two-out trouble. Newcomb escaped with a Duffy flyout, but sat at 54 pitches after two frames.
“Little rough,” manager Brian Snitker said. “Had a hard time getting anything going. I don’t think he had a feel for really anything. Just a rough outing.”
Cron opened the Rays’ third with a homer. Braves manager Brian Snitker stayed with Newcomb, who made his last mistake in the fourth, allowing Pham’s two-run homer to stretch the Rays’ lead to 6-3.
“You’re not going to be great every time out,” Newcomb said. “It’s something I’ve got to learn how to deal with. It’s just been a stretch of some good teams and me not having my best stuff or my game. Just a combination of those things.”
The lefty exited after four innings. All six of the runs were earned. Newcomb has allowed five or more earned runs in three of his past four starts. He has a 6.81 ERA in five starts since his 8 2/3 no-hit innings against the Dodgers on July 29.
Newcomb said he feels the same physically as he did earlier in the season, when he was an All-Star candidate and perhaps the best pitcher on the staff. As Snitker pointed out, it’s his first full season in the bigs, and a learning curve is associated with that.
“I don’t see any signs of decline,” Snitker said. “The stuff’s there. It’s just the command of it, the consistency of it, things he’s fighting now more than anything else.”
Outside Camargo’s homer, the Braves offense was pedestrian. They had loaded the bases in the third, thanks to two walks, but Ozzie Albies’ comebacker to the pitcher left the Braves empty-handed.
The game was delayed an hour and six minutes prior to the bottom of the sixth. Charlie Culberson and Ronald Acuna picked up RBIs in the eighth, pulling the Braves to within three.
The Phillies beat the Nationals, cutting the Braves’ NL East lead to 3 1/2 games.
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