Monday was their night to shake things up.
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True, a lot has happened in Atlanta since Beachy’s last regular-season game in a Braves uniform in August 2013. Nick Markakis leads Atlanta with 101 hits and 31 RBI while Cameron Maybin and Jace Peterson have combined for 84 RBI.
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez (23) follows through on a two-run homer in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Atlanta Braves Monday, July 20, 2015, in Atlanta.
The Dodgers threatened in the seventh and again in the ninth.
That’s more of a challenge for Brandon Beachy, a wild-card entry in the rotation sweepstakes who has still looked very rough around the edges in his first two comeback starts. Pinch-hitter Scott Van Slyke singled off Arodys Vizcaino, but left fielder Eury Perez threw out Gonzalez at the plate.
While that sort of thinking was necessary in low-budget Tampa, he has continued that trend in Los Angeles with the deep-pocketed Dodgers.
The Braves took the lead against Adam Liberatore (2-2) in the fifth.
Wisler (4-1) got his fourth win in just his sixth major league start, allowing eight hits and four runs with two strikeouts.
Atlanta scored two runs in the inning, the difference in the final score.
Beachy’s second start this season was as disheartening as the first, as the right-hander was charged with four runs in four innings in the Dodgers’ 7-5 defeat to his former team Monday night. He’s 7-4 with a 3.35 ERA in 23 career starts at Turner Field. Andrelton Simmons was walked intentionally to bring up Wisler, who got ahead in the count 3-0 and drew a five-pitch walk.
The batter, Jace Peterson, rounded first base and went to second. He gave up two runs and struck out seven over six innings in a 3-2 loss in Colorado, his fifth major league start.
Gonzalez singled in the eighth and moved to second on Justin Turner’s third hit, a single off Andrew McKirahan. Wisler got out of that with a Yasiel Puig groundout.
Early in the season Crawford was the Dodgers’ starting left fielder and Ethier was typically on the bench, but during Crawford’s absence Ethier has hit. Wisler got rookie slugger Joc Pederson to ground into a fielder’s choice and Barnes was thrown out at home for the second out. The rookie slapped a two-run double in the fourth inning to put Atlanta up 4-0, then delivered a two-run single in the sixth to make the score 7-4. Kendrick hit a two-run double off the center-field wall and scored on Gonzalez’s 21st homer for a 4-all tie. “How can we get better?”
Markakis had a majors-leading 393 homerless plate appearances this season before squaring up a belt-high changeup in the first inning from Beachy, who had missed on a pair of 89-mph fastballs to start the at-bat.
Brandon Beachy has made it back to the big leagues after recovering from a second Tommy John surgery, and Monday he faces the team who discovered him.
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Markakis came in batting. 288 with 15 homers, 80 RBIs and 38 stolen bases in 236 career games with Los Angeles. The issue with making a deal with another team is Johnson’s contract which guarantees Johnson approximately $20.5 million through the end of 2017 season. He and the Braves believe his reduction in power has been a byproduct of not being permitted to follow his normal winter strength and conditioning regimen.
