Kyle Taylor, Valdosta Today Sports
LOS ANGELES – The Braves finished their short home stand over the weekend by finishing with a record of 4-2, before starting a west coast road trip.
On Monday, teams all across the league honored fallen soldiers for Memorial Day. The day always brings a sobering reminder of the privileges we have, as we stand on the shoulders of those true heroes.
Baseball celebrated this freedom on Monday with a full slate of games on the schedule. The Atlanta Braves started a three game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers with Williams Perez (NR) making his second start of the season since taking over for Eric Stults. Perez faced off against Dodgers veteran, Brett Anderson (2-2), who was only the second left-hander the Braves had faced in the last thirty days.
Perez started the game off with trouble locating his pitches, and gave up a run on two hits, while walking one and hitting another batter. That would, however, be the only run Perez gave up in six innings, including an inning in the third where he threw thirty-one pitches and got out of a bases load jam. The Braves rookie right-hander struck out seven for the second consecutive game.
Fredi Gonzalez told the Atlanta Journal Constitution, “[Perez] has been better than expected. He mixes his pitches real well. He’s not afraid to throw his secondary stuff even when he is behind in the count, which takes a while for even veteran pitchers. So far I like the way he has pitched and progressed.”
The Braves would get on the board in the fourth inning with an RBI single off the bat of Pedro Ciriaco, who had been hitless in six previous games.
With news broke by Mark Bowman that Alberto Callaspo will likely be traded, or designated for assignment later by the end of the week, and Ciriaco’s struggles at the plate, the Braves will welcome Chris Johnson back in the lineup on Thursday against the Giants. Callaspo was scratched from the lineup before Monday’s game.
Freddie Freeman would add an RBI single in the fifth, scoring Cameron Maybin. The Braves then found themselves up 2-1, with Williams Perez in line to pick up his first career big league win.
That was until Adrian Gonzalez drove in Joc Pederson on a ground out back to pitcher, Luis Avilan, which tied the game at 2-2.
Nick Massett came on in the eighth, making his fourth appearance for the Braves since being traded from the Marlins. Massett had not given up a run in any of those four appearances leading up to this game, but it did not end well Monday night at Dodger Stadium.
Andre Ethier started the inning off with his sixth home run of the season. Massett would try to limit the damage and give the Braves a chance in the ninth, but Alex Guerrero would add a two-run homer, and Jimmy Rollins hit another solo shot to the right field seats.
The score was 6-2, Dodgers, heading into the ninth. The Braves would get the inning started strong, but only managed to bring in one run, making the final score 6-3 in favor of Los Angeles.
It will not get any easier on Tuesday night as the Braves face another lefty, this time Clayton Kershaw (2-3), who won last season’s MVP and Cy Young awards. Kershaw, however, has not found that form so far this season, but not a pitcher anyone wants to match up against on any given night.
Julio Teheran (4-1) will look to take on that task, as he builds on his last two-hit start against the Brewers. Batters from the Dodgers that have faced Teheran in their careers have a combined average of .310 against the 24-year-old. First pitch will be thrown at 10:10 PM ET and will be televised as part of a double-header on ESPN.
