Braves Still Winless, Fall to Houston 8-3

Sadly, it was more of the same for Braves Monday night in Houston.

Atlanta jumped out to an early 3-0 lead over Houston, but things unraveled from there as the Braves ended up losing by a score of 8-3.

The Braves got the scoring going in the second inning, as Tyler Pastornicky singled with runners on first and second to score Matt Diaz and make it a 1-0 game. It was the rookie's first career RBI. Starting pitcher Brandon Beachy followed with a chopper just to the left of the pitchers mound that Happ couldn't handle. It allowed Juan Francisco to come in and score.

Atlanta headed to the third up 2-0, and added a third run on Brian McCann's single that scored Martin Prado. However, Houston promptly tied things up in the bottom of the third.

Beachy walked Jordan Schafer with two outs, and then Juan Francisco's defense struck. The third baseman bobbled a grounder from Jose Altuve for an error, then made a throwing error on the same play as Schafer advanced to third. Travis Buck followed with a two-run double, and then Carlos Lee singled to bring in another run and tie it at three.

With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Marwin Gonzalez crushed a ball to the right field wall, which Matt Diaz promptly ran smack into trying to catch the ball. A single from pitcher J.A. Happ scored Gonzalez, and gave the Astros a 4-3 lead.

Beachy pitched well besides a high pitch count and some unearned runs. He went 5 innings, giving up four hits, four runs (one earned), three walks, and three strikeouts.

With it being a one-run game, Fredi Gonzalez decided to bring in Livan Hernandez and that decision wasn't a good one. Hernandez was hit hard, giving up four hits and two runs in two innings. He departed after the seventh with Houston up 6-3.

Justin Maxwell tacked on a two-run bomb in the eighth off Chad Durbin to end the scoring at 8-3.

WP:

Happ (1-0): 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

LP:

Beachy (0-1)