Well now, this was certainly a terrible way to end a road trip. Getting swept in a three-game series is never a good thing in the middle of a playoff chase, but at least the three teams right behind Atlanta in the Wild Card race were swept as well, meaning they lost no ground. With Milwaukee's sweep, however, they are now just three games from the second Wild Card spot.
The Braves rapped out 20 hits in the three games, but only one...ONE was an extra-base hit, and that was Jason Heyward's home run in the third game. The offense was a whole was just 1-9 with RISP while Milwaukee was 8-21. Rickie Weeks was 4-11 with two homers and Norichika Aoki was 5-12 with three doubles. Aoki was especially a pain on defense, throwing out Martin Prado at third base and robbing Lyle Overbay of a hit. By the way, Atlanta's only hit with runners in scoring position didn't score a run. Shocking, isn't it? They scored only three runs in the series, two of them on double plays.
Michael Bourn certainly didn't help any; he was 0-12 in the series with four strikeouts and is now hitting .277. In his last 10 games, Bourn is hitting just .162 (6-37) with 11 strikeouts and hasn't scored a run since September 3.
While Milwaukee's offense ran amok, the Atlanta defense committed a pair of errors that led to runs that may not have scored otherwise. A throwing error by Jonny Venters in the seventh inning of the first game wasted a shutout performance by Mike Minor. A fielding error by Chipper Jones in the third game started an eight-run fifth inning in which Weeks hit a three-run homer.
In addition to Minor's good performance, Tim Hudson pitched well also until the seventh inning. He had allowed only three hits through six innings before Milwaukee's offense got to him. Paul Maholm was hit the hardest, though. It was the second time in his last three starts he had gotten shelled.
Ryan Braun had been bothered by a sore wrist lately, and perhaps that is why he was just 2-11 in the series. Both hits were singles and both were in the third game of the series.
Andrelton Simmons returned from rehabbing a wrist injury and was 2-6 in the two games in which he appeared.
Chipper Jones added three hits to his career total, giving him 2,716 and moving into 59th all-time. Next is Lou Gehrig with 2,721
After an off day, the Braves play three with the Nats this weekend.