Atlanta Braves Lineup Erupts for Eight Runs in First Two Innings Against Mets

The Braves had lost four straight games against the Mets to open the 2012 season. Randall Delgado took the hill for Atlanta against a New York squad that boasted a 7-3 record entering play on Tuesday. Delgado threw in his second career start on April 11 against the Houston Astros. He posted five innings, five hits and two earned runs in a win that put the Braves on a hot streak coming home to Atlanta. 

On Tuesday, Delgado got through the first inning, striking out David Wright, who is hitting .517 with two home runs and five RBI this season.

The Braves then manufactured a run with a Chipper Jones sac fly that plated Michael Bourn. Bourn reached base on an error by Jason Bay that allowed him to reach second, then he reached third when he tagged up on a fly ball to right center hit by Jason Heyward. 

First inning runs are crucial against Johan Santana, New York’s starter on Tuesday, because he is easily rattled pitching out of the stretch with runners on base, and he is prone to give up a lot of runs when one can be scored early. 

Delgado got through the second inning in four batters, walking Josh Thole before getting Kirk Nieuwenhuis to line out sharply to Freddie Freeman at first. Delgado was settled in against a good New York lineup, and the Braves lineup was poised to break out against Santana early.

Dan Uggla led off the bottom of the second with a walk, and Matt Diaz, the left fielder for the Braves, followed Uggla with a single through the box that almost hit Santana in his mouth.  The stage was set for Freddie Freeman, who is hitting just .195 in 2012, to break the game open and regain his Rookie-of-the-Year-candidate form.

Freeman worked the count to three and two. After seeing eleven pitches, Freeman took Santana’s pitch down the left field line for a double that chased Dan Uggla home and pushed Santana’s pitch count to over 40 without a second inning out.

Santana was in serious trouble, down two to nothing with runners on second and third and no one out in the second inning.

Tyler Pastornicky, the Braves’ rookie shortstop, plated Diaz and Freeman on a breaking ball that he smacked over New York first baseman Ike Davis.

Randall Delgado was next, looking to move Pastornicky over to third with a sacrifice bunt. The bunt got down and Santana fielded it and threw to third, thinking he had Pastornicky caught between bases. The throw sailed, and Pastornicky was able to score as Delgado jogged into second base.

Santana was sufficiently rattled. The Braves were up five to nothing, with no one out in the second inning. 

Back to the top of the lineup, Michael Bourn rolled over on a pitch to second base for a groundout. Jason Heyward, who is hitting .316 with two home runs and six RBI this season, stepped in, looking to continue leading all National League right fielders in batting average. Heyward plated Pastornicky to give the Braves a six-nothing lead and push Santana out of the game.

The Braves' early offense destroyed the Mets, and although they put up a fight, they never recovered. 

More specifically, Delgado never allowed them to recover. He would have had a one-two-three inning were it not for a throwing error by Chipper Jones in the top of the third, but he retired David Wright again on a dribbler to Freeman at first to end the inning.

The Mets were showing no life through three innings against Delgado, but in the fourth inning, after Ike Davies flew out to Bourn in center, the Mets manufactured a few runs of their own.

Jason Bay popped a ball into the Atlanta sky that Uggla, Pastornicky and Bourn lost in the lights, allowing Bourn to reach second and be driven in by a Josh Thole single. Thole scored when pinch-hitter Mike Baxter singled to center to make it a 6-2 game.

Delgado got Ruben Tejada to pop out to first to avoid major damage, but the Braves could see that their lead couldn’t be considered secure yet. 

The bottom of the fifth saw another manufactured run from the Braves when Chipper Jones scored after a leadoff walk, a Brian McCann double and a Matt Diaz sacrifice fly. McCann went to third on the sac fly and was driven home by Freeman with a single up the middle.

The Braves held an 8-2 lead, and Delgado, after striking out Thole, allowing Nieuwenhuis to softly single to left and walking Ronny Cedeno to start the sixth, was replaced. Kris Medlen came in and allowed a run that was charged to Delgado before striking out David Wright to end the inning. 

Delgado pitched a great game for a fifth starter. He went up against the Mets’ ace, and held down a productive New York lineup long enough to get a big lead and hand it off to Atlanta’s stellar bullpen.

The Braves added another run in the eighth, when Juan Francisco, subbed in as a pinch-hitter for Medlen, hit a home run to right center, putting the Braves up 9-3 and eliminating all hope for the Mets.

Eric O’Flaherty finished the ninth inning for the Braves and Craig Kimbrel did not work in the non-save situation. The Braves took a game from the Mets in the standings, with one more to be played against them on Wednesday before the Braves begin a series with the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

The Braves’ offense did its job and produced more than enough runs to support a solid start from the fifth starter in the rotation.

The lineup still has yet to realize its full potential, with Uggla, Freeman and Pastornicky hitting below the Mendoza line (.200). Freeman drove in two runs in Tuesday’s win, and the Braves will need him to keep driving in runs if they hope to keep winning games in a tough schedule ahead.