Rockies at Braves
Shelby Miller is an All-Star whose name is sprinkled throughout the National League pitching leaderboards, but the biggest story surrounding the Atlanta Braves’ right-hander remains out of his control. Miller, who has not won in 17 consecutive starts despite posting a sparkling 3.11 ERA in that span, takes the mound Wednesday seeking his first victory in 100 days as the Braves host the Colorado Rockies.
Wins have been scarce for an Atlanta team that surprisingly played its way to .500 in early July, but the Braves are 12-30 since and have dropped eight of their past nine. The Rockies have enjoyed success against the Braves this season, improving to 5-1 against them with Tuesday’s 5-1 victory, but it marked just the ninth time the Rockies have won in Atlanta in 42 games dating to Aug. 19, 2002. Colorado second baseman DJ LeMahieu finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs, snapping a 4-for-27 slump to raise the All-Star’s average to .314.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, ROOT (Denver), SportSouth (Atlanta)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies LH Yohan Flande (3-1, 3.94 ERA) vs. Braves RH Shelby Miller (5-10, 2.50)
Flande struggled mightily as a starter last season, going 0-6 in 10 starts with a 5.77 ERA, but has improved greatly in 2015. The Rockies inserted the 29-year-old into the rotation at the end of July and he has responded with a 3-0 mark and a 3.90 ERA in five starts. Flande pitched a season-high seven innings Thursday against the Nationals, giving up two runs on three hits with five strikeouts to earn the victory.
Miller, who is 0-9 during his winless streak, did not have his best stuff in Friday’s loss to the Cubs, giving up five runs (three earned) on six hits in 6 1/3 innings – a game the Braves led 3-1 before Miller lost the lead. He has allowed two earned runs or less 11 times during the streak, but Atlanta has scored a total of 35 runs in the 17 games. Miller struck out seven but allowed five runs on 11 hits in five innings to lose at Colorado on July 10.
WALK-OFFS
1. Atlanta SS Andrelton Simmons, who missed the past two games with a minor knee injury, returned Tuesday and went 1-for-3; Simmons is batting .304 in August after a .205 July.
2. Colorado RF Carlos Gonzalez did not play Tuesday, one night after leaving with right knee soreness and a week after knee inflammation forced him from a game against Washington. Gonzalez leads all of baseball with 26 homers since June 1, blasting a big-league best 17 since the All-Star break.
3. The Rockies’ bullpen, which entered Tuesday with a 6.28 ERA in August, limited Atlanta to one hit over four shutout innings Tuesday and has not allowed a run in the past three games.