The Braves finished the series sweep of the Bisons tonight in dominant fashion. The final was 9-3 but the game was closer than that. It’s clear the recent call ups have left the lineup in shambles, and saying the pitching did not get it done would be an understatement.
Kyle Drabek took the mound in the late game and things just never went his way. The first batter reached on an infield single and it was just the first of three such hits. Even with the baseball gods against him he managed to battle through five innings before it got ugly. He failed to record an out in the sixth and finished with an unimpressive line of eight runs, six of which were earned through five plus innings (there was a late scoring change, one hit was changed to an error, now 4 of his 8 runs allowed were earned). In a game that was just seven innings there was not much of a chance for the offense to recover from this late deficit. With that said the opportunities were there early but no one was able to deliver with runners in scoring position.
Noteworthy performances came from Dan Johnson who belted his eighth homerun on a solo shot in the second, and Bobby Korecky who added his 26th straight scoreless inning of work. It is also worth mentioning that Ryan Goins has continued to look good at the plate. He went a modest 1-3 but even his outs were hard hit balls.
To put a bow on the Ricky Romero story from game one manager Gary Allenson tried to express a bit of optimism. Of course following a start that went as poorly as it did for Romero it can be hard to stay positive. “The trials and tribulations continue,” said Allenson, “it’s a step back, but part of being a professional is forgetting about it and moving on”. Easier said than done to be sure.
Allenson did mention that Austin Bibens-Dirkx could possibly make a spot start to avoid either Romero or Drabek having to pitch on three days of rest in the upcoming series against Lehigh Valley. The first game of that series is at 4:05 on Saturday with Liam Hendriks on the mound. Hendriks has been the best pitcher for the Bisons of late and he is going to have to keep that pace in order to reverse the team’s recent fortunes.