Kyle Taylor, Valdosta Today Sports:
ATLANTA – After a road trip that started with the Nationals celebrating over the Braves and ending with a sweep of the Marlins that included an almost no-hitter, the Braves were back in Atlanta Tuesday night with a two game set with the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Rays came into this one winners of five of their last seven and sent pitcher, Erasmo Ramirez (1-1) to the mound against Mike Foltynewicz (2-0) of the Braves.
Coming off a series sweep, along with an off day before starting the home stand, the Braves looked to be in good position to take game one with their young, hard-throwing starter on the mound.
Unfortunately for Braves fans, Tampa took the first of two by a score of 5-3.
The Braves got down immediately in the top of the first when Foltynewicz gave up a run scoring single to former National, Steven Souza Jr.
Heading into the bottom of the second inning the Braves looked to take control of the game by putting a three spot on the board. Andrelton Simmons was walked with the bases loaded before Cameron Maybin came up with a base hit scoring another. Jace Peterson would add another RBI of his own before the inning ended. This was Peterson’s third straight game with an RBI(s) in the second inning.
The Rays would begin to add runs inning by inning which included a home run off the bat of Asdrubal Cabrera to right center field in the fourth.
The line for Foltynewicz was 8 hits, 5 earned runs, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts over five innings. The numbers and the outcome of the game were a little disappointing, but his hard, 94-96 mph fourseamer and other tough pitches give Braves fans hope that this will be a guy that will hold down a position in the rotation for a long time.
Fredi Gonzalez told MLB.com, “Today was a perfect example of [Foltynewicz] going through some growing pains,” Gonzalez said, “It’s a 3-3 game in the fifth inning and he strikes out the first two [batters], and then he loses his concentration or focus.”
Foltynewicz echoed Fredi’s comments to Mark Bowman, “It’s only my fourth start and I’m just still trying to learn things. I’m trying to make my mechanics clean and all that stuff, working on the slider still. But other than that, it’s just baby steps and it’s coming along good now.”
The Braves have made a few roster moves in recent days. Phil Gosselin went down Sunday after making a back-handed stop in the field and suffered a fractured thumb. Gosselin will undergo the surgery Wednesday and will miss 6-8 weeks. The contract of third baseman, Adonis Garcia was selected to fill Gosselin’s roster spot while he is on the DL. The Braves also signed free agent reliever, Nick Masset on Monday, and sent Cody Martin back to Gwinnett.
Chris Johnson is expected to return to the hot corner soon, but until then the position will be occupied by Ciriaco, Callaspo, and Garcia.
Atlanta will try to avoid the two game sweep Wednesday night with Williams Perez (NR) making his first career MLB start. The 23-year-old right-hander will try to fill the void in the rotation with Eric Stults now in the pen.
Perez will have a tough matchup with his counterpart being Jake Odorizzi, who is 3-3 with a 2.36 ERA this season. The game will start at 7:10 from Turner Field.
