A day after the Braves looked like they would own the Florida Marlins, the youngest team in baseball counter punched with a knockout shot of their own. The Braves didn't have it working on Wednesday night, and were dominated in just about every part of the game.
Kyle Davies looked like he couldn't find the right release point, and therefore couldn't locate many of his pitches. He hung enough balls that the Marlins probably felt they were at a gimme pitch buffet. Of the eight hits that Davies gave up in his four short innings of work, five of them went for extra bases. Even five of the six outs he got in the field were hit in the air. The Marlins starter Josh Johnson, on the other hand, was in complete control of Braves hitters, allowing only four hits and one unearned run through six strong innings of work.
This was also a night when the bullpen couldn't keep the game close enough for the Braves to think about a comeback. Peter Moylan got touched up for three runs on five hits in an inning of work. To his credit, pretty much all but one of those hits were seeing-eye singles. Then the wonderment of Chris Reitsma emerged in a non-save situation. Pretty much, he got "f'ed in the a" by the Marlins batters. Amazingly, the Marlins hit for the cycle off of him - big time oof.
Renteria went hitless in four at-bats and saw his hitting streak end at 24 games. The lineup slot change between McCann and LaRoche was still in effect, with both going 1 - 4 on the night. Francoeur continued his hitting streak with a two-hit night, and Macay McBride pitched two really good innings in relief of Davies, including getting him out of a jam in the fifth when there were no outs and two runners on.
Coming up today, the Braves will end up facing Dontrelle Willis after all. The Marlins decided to move Sergio Mitre back one day in the rotation and keep Willis on his normal five days rest. He will face Tim Hudson, who should have a good game. Hudson has been on the "every other start pitch a complete game" pattern over his last four starts, so we are due for a good outing from him. Kyle Davies will get a chance to vanquish his demons when he faces these very same Marlins next Monday at the Ted.
Atlanta 3, Florida 11 at Dolphins Stadium
Atlanta Record: (14-19)
Florida Record: (9-22)
Winning pitcher - Josh Johnson (3-2)
Losing pitcher - Kyle Davies (2-3)