Atlanta Braves: Victor Mateo 3-Start Review for the Mississippi Braves

May 15 vs. Mobile: 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K

First Inning
Sean Jamieson led off the game and was quickly to a 3-0 count before walking on 5 pitches. Center fielder Socrates Brito followed Jamieson, and struck out on three pitches to help Mateo’s case.

Former Brave Brandon Drury was up next, and he towered the first pitch to the warning track in left field. Mateo finally looked to first for the first time with Rudy Flores at the plate after Jameison was running on a foul ball by Brito and on Drury’s fly out.

Mateo really pounds the zone, which makes the opening walk all that more surprising.

In the Flores at bat, Mateo threw to first three times while only throwing two pitches to Flores, which likely saved him a run as Flores lifted a soft fly to center that fell in front of Matt Lipka in center, but Lipka’s throw and the late start of Jamieson held Jamieson at third on a play that often would have scored a run.

Right fielder Zach Borenstein fouled off some solid pitches before popping out to shortstop for the third out.

Second Inning

Former Brave, Matt Pagnozzi led off the second inning with a strikeout on a check swing on a Mateo slider that crossed Pagnozzi up.

Right fielder Alex Glenn followed and took two strikes to start the at bat before eventually popping out to second base. Raul Navarro bunted for a hit off of Mateo and had perfect placement between Mateo and third baseman Kevin Ahrens.

Opposing pitcher A.J. Schugel followed Navarro and drew the 2nd and 3rd balls of the inning with a patient at bat before singling up the middle. That brought up the top of the order and Jamieson. On the third pitch of the at bat, Mateo sawed off Jamieson inside and he popped out to first base.

Third Inning

Brito took an 0-2 pitch to center field to fly out for the first out of the third. Mateo continued to pound the zone with Brandon Drury, who was playing 2B to get to the majors quicker. He had Drury 0-2 on three pitches before an inside pitch got away from him, and Drury was plunked on the left arm.

A smart play by Seth Loman got a groundout at first base as Loman picked up the ball before it could go foul and tagged the bag, but Drury was moving on the play, so there was no chance to get him at second.

Borenstein followed with a quick groundout to first, and Mateo was out of the inning with the only ball out of the strike zone being the HBP with Drury.

Fourth Inning

Pagnozzi led off his second inning of the game to start the fourth, and Mateo started off by buzzing him up and in and then missing three more times for a four-pitch walk.

Glenn then lined back to Mateo on the second pitch of the at bat, and Mateo was able to double Pagnozzi off of first for the double play.

Mateo shook off the control issues of the early inning after that play and attacked Navarro with a good sequence of low soft, hard in, breaking low and outside (fouled off), and just off the plate inside before getting Navarro to pop out to left.

Fifth Inning

Schugel had another good at bat before grounding out to third and Jamieson quickly popped out to second for a quick start to the fifth inning. Brito fouled off two pitches before sitting on a very close third pitch that got called a ball. Mateo came right back at Brito getting another foul and finally striking out Brito on the 5th pitch of the at bat.

Sixth Inning

The Mississippi offense gave Mateo a long break with a 5-run bottom of the 5th inning. Mateo came out rusty to start the sixth, as is common for a pitcher after a long layoff like that, going to 3-0 on Drury before getting the count full and getting Drury to fly out to center field.

Mississippi had Flores shifted toward right field, and he took the first pitch on the ground just to the shortstop’s right for a single. Mateo came back with a nice pitch outside that Borenstein rolled over to third and the M-Braves turned into a nice 5-4-3 double play.

Seventh Inning

Mateo again led off the inning with a walk, his third such inning of the game. Glenn followed with a single just out of the reach of Corban Joseph at second base.

Raul Navarro popped out to third after a long at bat where Mateo didn’t give up a single ball in the at bat. He then got pinch hitter Mitch Haniger to fly out to short right to keep the runner on second from tagging up. Mateo then got Jamieson to ground out to short to close the seventh and end his night.