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Cameron Maybin hit the first walk-off home run of his nine-year Major League career, and led the Atlanta Braves to a 2-1 victory against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Sunday's finale at Turner Field.
His blast to left field -- the ninth of the season for him -- helped salvage yet another excellent start from Shelby Miller.
Poor Shelby Miller.
The guy comes just six outs shy of throwing a no-hitter, and somehow, in some magical Braves way, he extended his winless streak to 16 games. I said earlier that we shouldn't be surprised at this point if the streak continues, but I have to admit: I'm still surprised.
Miller tossed seven brilliant innings, striking out a 10 batters -- tying his season high -- and walking four, while preventing any hits to the Arizona lineup. That is, until the eighth inning and the big bat of Nick Ahmed came along. You know Ahmed. Former Braves prospect? Career .216 hitter? Yep, that guy. He ended Miller's bid for the no-hitter to lead off the eighth inning with a bloop single into right field.
Miller's start came to an end one batter later, when Jarrod Saltalamacchia followed suit with a single of his own. Ross Detwiler entered the game at that point, and then Ender Inciarte promptly grounded into an fielder's choice that drove in Ahmed and destroyed Shelby's foolish hopes of ending his streak.
Like any other Shelby Miller start this season, the Braves barely did anything at the plate, and according to C.J. Nitkowski, he's starting to get into historic territory where that run support is concerned:
In his 23 starts with the Braves Shelby Miller has received 1 or 0 runs 14 times. His 2.54 run support is the lowest in baseball.
— CJ Nitkowski (@CJNitkowski) August 16, 2015
More Shelby Miller: His run support average dropped to 2.49 today, the lowest in 34 years (Randy Martz, CHC, 2.42) via @STATS_MLB
— CJ Nitkowski (@CJNitkowski) August 16, 2015
Rubby de la Rosa held the Braves to just one run and seven hits over seven innings, while striking out three batters and walking four.
Another non-depressing note from this game for Braves fans is the fact that Peter Moylan made his first Major League appearance since 2013 with the Dodgers, and his first appearance in an Atlanta uniform since 2012. And he did well, forcing Aaron Hill to groundout with three sinkers and then ending the eighth inning after Paul Goldschmidt flew out to Cameron Maybin in center field.
But, while it's becoming exceedingly annoying that Miller has to continue answering questions about this stretch, it's nice to know that the Braves record during the stretch just improved to 3-13.
Baby steps.
Source: FanGraphs