Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Atlanta Braves‘ starting pitcher Mike Minor was sharp once again, but not quite enough to out-duel Kansas City Royals‘ starter Wade Davis, who turned in an incredible performance, tossing seven scoreless innings while allowing five hits, striking out seven and issuing no walks in a 1-0 Royals win on Wednesday at Turner Field.
Despite providing the Braves with six innings of one-run, five-hit ball in which he struck out five and walked none, Minor was the hard-luck loser. His only hiccup came when he allowed three singles in the top of the fourth inning, the final of which was a two-out RBI base knock by Jeff Francoeur that scored Alcides Escobar.
Atlanta had six hits in the game, including a two-out double by first baseman Chris Johnson in the bottom of the seventh that saw third baseman Juan Francisco get gunned down at the plate by Kansas City’s Chris Getz. From there, the Royals’ bullpen shut down the Braves over the final two innings, as Kelvin Herrera and Greg Holland combined to strike out four of the six batters they faced.
It’s obvious that no team is going to hit a home run in every game, so perhaps the Braves reached their quota for the series when they blasted five solo shots in Tuesday’s 6-3 victory over the Royals. Nevertheless, Atlanta was hoping to extend its winning streak to 11 games, but instead they have to settle for a 10-gamer that matched their longest winning streak since 2000.
I can say with almost 100% certainly that the Braves aren’t going to lose very many 1-0 games. More often than not, they will cash in on the quality starts that they are receiving from their strong rotation. After all, they possess one of the most potent lineups in all of Major League Baseball, and they have already posted a 12-2 record even though first baseman Freddie Freeman has been out for about a week and a half and catcher Brian McCann has missed every game.
In their two losses, the Braves have been beaten 2-0 by the Philadelphia Phillies‘ Cliff Lee and 1-0 by Davis, reeling off an impressive double-digit victory streak in between. If they continue to do that type of work, a stinker every now and then will be acceptable.
Josh McKinney is an Atlanta Braves writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @SuperJMac32, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
