Bartolo Colon hit hard, Atlanta Braves lose fifth straight
By Scott Ferris
Matt Kemp on the Atlanta Braves: “This is unacceptable. Our team is too good. … We got weapons to win games, and we got to do better.”
Given the overabundance of clichés in sports, it can be annoying to hear that a game was “over before it started” but that’s perhaps the best way to describe Tuesday’s contest between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros.
Losers of four straight entering play, the Braves called on Bartolo Colon to stop the bleeding and get the team back on track. Former Atlanta farmhand Charlie Morton received the start for Houston.
As mentioned above, the game was more or less over from the words “play ball.”
After Morton retired the side in order in the top half of the first, Houston’s bats pounced on Colon.
Here’s a quick recap of what happened before Big Sexy recorded his first out of the game:
- George Springer – Single
- Josh Reddick – Single
- Jose Altuve – Single (Springer scores, 1-0 Houston)
- Carlos Correa – Three-run Homer (4-0 Houston)
- Carlos Beltran – Solo Home Run (5-0 Houston)
Five batters, five hits, five runs, zero outs.
As he put it “I was throwing a lot of fastballs, … They were prepared and jumped on them.”
To his credit, Bartolo would go on to retire 13 of the next 14 hitters with the one base runner allowed coming on an error.
Unfortunately, in the time it took for Colon to settle in and start dealing, the Astros had already put the game out of reach.
In the eight full innings following the Beltran homerun, each team scored three runs for a final score of 8-3.
The loss represents a disappointing start to a seven game road trip. After a second game against the Astros, Atlanta will head to Miami for a three-game weekend series then travel north to Toronto to face the Blue Jays in the first half of a four-game home-and-home series.
Notes:
- Matt Kemp went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored to push his hit streak to an even 10 games.
- Freddie Freeman (0-for-4, 3 K) had perhaps his worst game of 2017.
- Sam Freeman threw 2.1 scoreless innings to keep his Atlanta ERA at 0.00.
- Josh Reddick’s fifth inning homer was the 100th of his career.
Lefty Jaime Garcia will get the start tomorrow for Atlanta. Joe Musgrove will take the hill for Houston. First pitch is at 2:10 PM EST.