The Sports Xchange
MLB Team Report – Atlanta Braves – INSIDE PITCH
The first day left-hander Mike Minor took the mound for the Braves early throwing program that began at the end of January, his pitches were all over the place. He had no idea where any of them was going.
Three months later, he has shown the most poise of the starting five and was the first of them to throw more than five innings when he pitched 7 1/3 innings in his April 14 win over the Brewers. It was a career high and his first so-called quality start, and it came in his 25th major league start.
After he allowed a walk and a run to begin the game, he retired the next 19 batters before allowing another hit.
It was a far cry from his first start of the season, against the Mets. That he was tapped to start the third game of the season didn’t mean the Braves thought he was the third-best pitcher on the staff. He got the start because manager Fredi Gonzalez wanted to throw a left-hander at the Mets and Minor was the only candidate. But he gave up six earned runs in five innings.
What happened between his first and second starts is that he took a friend’s advice and stopped worrying and just went out and pitched. Sounds simple, even to Minor. He has to keep reminding himself, and it isn’t that easy for a Vanderbilt guy who ponders everything. But it’s possible to see the calming results of this in his face when he’s on the mound. He looks, for want of a better description, older.
It isn’t just that his frame of mind is better now, though. His slider and curveball were better in the second outing. And he is not afraid to go inside with his fastball, which makes those pitches more effective.
Taking the mound with a two-run lead in the first over the Diamondbacks on Thursday night, Minor continued his brilliant run: eight innings, 112 pitches, only one earned run of two. He struck out nine, walked no one — his bugaboo last season — and retired 12 in a row to end the game. In his last 15 1/3 innings, Minor has given up one earned run.
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MLB Team Report – Atlanta Braves – NOTES, QUOTES
–3B Chipper Jones was not in the lineup for Thursday’s game at the Diamondbacks, thanks to swelling in his surgically repaired left knee. Because Jones took the precaution of wrapping it for the team flight, he didn’t experience the degree of swelling that he did flying back to Atlanta from Houston last week. And the knee will not have to be drained. But the swelling limits his mobility. The expectation is that he will be back in the lineup for Friday’s game.
–RF Jason Heyward was back batting sixth Thursday after hitting third Wednesday and second Tuesday. His position is being dictated by which other starters are being given the day off. When 3B Chipper Jones is starting, he bats third. Heyward hit second when INF/OF Martin Prado got a breather. Heyward was 2 for 5 Thursday.
–1B Freddie Freeman’s family was at the ballpark — they live in California and will follow the team to Los Angeles — and Freeman was a little excited about playing in front of them. He had a career-high five RBI — including two home runs — from the third spot in the order.
–3B Juan Francisco got a second consecutive start, thanks to swelling in 3B Chipper Jones’s left knee. Francisco homered in back-to-back games for the first time in his career Tuesday and Wednesday, leading off the eighth inning with a pinch-hit home run in the first game and hitting a two-run homer when he got the start in the second game. He was 2 for 5 Thursday.
BY THE NUMBERS: 56. One-run decisions the Braves were part of last season. The Braves have played in two one-run games in their first 13.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “I was having dreams about it.” — 2B Dan Uggla, after he finally hit his first home run of the season Wednesday, on how stressed he had been not to have done that already.
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MLB Team Report – Atlanta Braves – ROSTER REPORT
MEDICAL WATCH:
–3B Chipper Jones was not in the lineup for Thursday’s game at the Diamondbacks, thanks to swelling in his surgically repaired left knee. Because Jones took the precaution of wrapping it for the team flight, he didn’t experience the degree of swelling that he did flying back to Atlanta from Houston last week. And the knee will not have to be drained. But the swelling limits his mobility. The expectation is that he will be back in the lineup for Friday’s game.
–RHP Tim Hudson (offseason back surgery) allowed one earned run in a five-inning rehab appearance with Triple-A Gwinnett on Wednesday night. He threw 76 pitches (48 for strikes), allowing two hits, three walks and striking out four. Most important, though, he induced eight ground-ball outs.
–RHP Arodys Vizcaino (Tommy John surgery in March 2012) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 26. He is expected to miss the season.
–RHP Anthony Varvaro (right pectoral strain) went on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 26.
–LHP Robert Fish (left elbow tendinitis) on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to March 26.
ROTATION:
RHP Tommy Hanson
RHP Jair Jurrjens
LHP Mike Minor
RHP Brandon Beachy
RHP Kris Medlen
BULLPEN:
RHP Craig Kimbrel (closer)
LHP Jonny Venters
LHP Eric O’Flaherty
RHP Kris Medlen
RHP Cristhian Martinez
RHP Chad Durbin
RHP Randall Delgado
CATCHERS:
Brian McCann
David Ross
INFIELDERS:
1B Freddie Freeman
2B Dan Uggla
SS Tyler Pastornicky
3B Chipper Jones
3B Martin Prado
INF Juan Francisco
INF Jack Wilson
OUTFIELDERS:
LF Matt Diaz
CF Michael Bourn
RF Jason Heyward
OF/INF Eric Hinske
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