NL Worst of the Night: Atlanta Braves' Randall Delgado Gets Slammed

Highlighting a bad performance from the previous night in baseball might seem like a harsh way to start the morning. But look at it this way: If you had a rough night or bad day, here's someone who may have had it worse.

Making his third start of the season for the Atlanta Braves, rookie Randall Delgado retired the first five Arizona Diamondbacks batters he faced on Sunday. But the last out of the second inning proved to be a tricky one to get.

Jason Kubel hit a single off Delgado. That was followed by a double from Cody Ransom. But there were still two outs in the inning with John McDonald and his .167 batting average coming to the plate. 

However, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez called for an intentional walk after Delgado fell behind McDonald on a two balls, no strikes count. Gonzalez probably thought he was giving his rookie pitcher a break, letting him face pitcher Ian Kennedy in the ninth spot of the D-Backs lineup. But loading the bases took away any wiggle room Delgado had, and he wilted under the pressure.

Delgado walked Kennedy on four straight pitches, bringing Kubel in to tie the game at 1-1. 

“I was trying to be perfect,” Delgado told the Atlanta Journal Constitution's David O'Brien. “That was a big mistake.”

With the bases still loaded and having already walked in a run, Delgado had to throw strikes. Unfortunately, he left a four-seam fastball up in the zone which Gerardo Parra crushed to right field for a grand slam and a 5-1 D-Backs lead.

You can see video of the grand slam here.

Delgado actually recovered well from there, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing no hits. But he did hit two batters. And after walking two consecutive batters in the sixth, Delgado was pulled from the game. 

Though Delgado's start wasn't so bad that he deserves a trip to the minors, that's probably where he's headed. Tim Hudson will soon be activated from the disabled list, and it's expected that Delgado will be sent to Triple-A Gwinnett to make room for him. With an off-day on Thursday for the Braves, the fifth spot in the rotation won't come up this week either. 

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