Cat-astrophe! Atlanta Braves fall behind early, can’t claw their way back

Tuesday’s tilt in Miami featured, among other things, a multi-homer game, starters coming out of the pen, and one of the odder on-field delays you’ll ever see.

Sitting at just 1-5 heading into play on Tuesday, the Atlanta Braves called on Bartolo Colon – the starting pitcher for the club’s lone win– to take the hill.

Alas, Big Sexy was unable to repeat his excellent Atlanta debut.

In the bottom of the first, Miami sent eight men to the plate. Three singles, two sac flies, and two walks later, the score was 3-0, Marlins.

Two innings later, with Colon still on the mound, Miami hung another three-spot, this time courtesy of a Marcell Ozuna three-run, opposite field bomb. 6-0, Marlins.

Colon lasted just one more inning, finishing with an uninspiring line of 4.0 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K.

He handed the ball to fellow starter Mike Foltynewicz. While this likely wasn’t an ideal move for Atlanta, Brian Snitker had announced that Folty would be available if necessary (his next scheduled start isn’t until next Tuesday).

Unfortunately, the change did little to deter the Miami offense. In his first inning of work, Foltynewicz picked up where Colon left off – allowing home runs to Ozuna.

After Christian Yelich singled to lead off the bottom of the fifth, Big Bear turned on a 96-MPH heater, depositing the ball well into the left field stands.

Ozuna’s final line on the day: 2-2, 2 HR, 2 R, 6 RBI, BB.

***

While Miami clearly had the better offensive night, the Braves bats weren’t entirely quiet. Nick Markakis recorded his first home run of the year, a high arcing solo-shot to right-center.

Later, some sloppy fielding by the Marlins allowed two runs to score on a bases loaded, Jace Peterson ground out. Adonis Garcia also plated Freddie Freeman with a single in the sixth.

***

While this may sound like a pretty typical early-April game between two teams not expected to contend, make no mistake, you’ll be seeing highlights from it for years.

In the middle of the game, a cat wandered into the outfield.

After running around on the grass for a bit, it took shelter under the padding in the outfield wall. Miami slugger Giancarlo Stanton walked over to it, attempting to open the door within the outfield paneling in order to let the lost cat escape.

However, our feline friend took off, scurrying under the padding. After distancing itself from the outfielders (and security), it stood on the warning track, looking for a way out.

With no doors in sight, the cat opted to scale the wall, eventually taking shelter within Miami’s gaudy, just ugly, ugly abomination of a home run sculpture.

There was good news associated with the cat incident, by the way…

But of course, twitter being what it is… a new account was born:

Next: Swanson is struggling. Here's why.

Given the enduring video of a similar cat-on-field incident back in the Seattle Kingdome, it’s safe to say we’ll be watching the footage of that cat climbing the wall for quite a while.