Atlanta Braves news and links: Rain, Rio, and red-hot Ender

BRAVES NEWS

Braves pick up rain-shortened victory over Nationals

Sunday didn’t live up to its name yesterday, as it was quite stormy in the Atlanta metro area. As a result, the Braves and Nationals were only able to get through seven innings. By the time the game was called, the Braves were up 7-2 and had benefited from a decent start from Matt Wisler and 3 RBIs from Adonis Garcia. That gave Atlanta the series victory over Washington, and it’s clear that the Braves are doing their level best to avoid the 100-loss mark as we reach the end of the season.

Rio Ruiz gets called up after strong finish with G-Braves

In a cruel twist of fate, yesterday’s game was called just before Rio Ruiz was able to make his first career at-bat as a major leaguer. Fortunately, the third baseman didn’t let the rain spoil a pretty big day for him, and as he told David O’Brien of the AJC, he’s still very excited to be in the bigs.

The Braves selected Ruiz’s contract after Gwinnett lost Friday in the IL championship series. Ruiz didn’t know what to say when Gwinnett manager John Moses told him late Friday that he getting called to the majors for the first time. Actually, he knew what to say but couldn’t say it.

“Really at a loss for words,” Ruiz said, smiling Saturday as he recalled the conversation. “I tried to say ‘thank you’ but it wouldn’t come out. I just gave Johnny Mo a big hug and told him thank you for everything that he helped me with through the season, and that was that. And immediately ran out to call my family. It was awesome.”

Ender Inciarte is closing in on second-half hits record for Braves

It’s no secret that Ender Inciarte has been very productive at the plate since the All-Star break. As a matter of fact, Cory McCartney of Fox Sports South made note of the fact that Inciarte is currently leading baseball in hits since the break (88) and could reach an Atlanta franchise milestone if he can keep it up as we reach the end of the season.

Per Baseball-Ref's Play Index, he is just three away from the 91 that Chipper Jones had in 2007 and Andruw Jones in '00. With 13 games to go, Inciarte has some work to do to catch Terry Pendelton, who has the record for most hits since the franchise's move to Atlanta in 1966 as he had 106 second-half hits in his 1991 MVP season.

MLB NEWS

Mets sweep Twins and take the lead in NL Wild Card

This past weekend was a lovely one for the New York Mets. They had the pleasure of running into the AL’s worst team in the form of the Minnesota Twins, and they duly took advantage of that by sweeping them. They completed the sweep with a 3-2 win on Sunday afternoon, and the defending National League champions are now leading the NL Wild Card race.

Giants and Cardinals split crucial series in San Francisco

Meanwhile in San Francisco, I cynically predicted that the Giants and Cardinals would probably split their crucial four-game series and gain no ground in the NL Wild Card race. Sure enough, the Giants won the first two games of the series, and then the Cardinals won the final two games. As a result, the Giants are now in second place in the Wild Card and the Cardinals are one game behind San Francisco.