Greene after defeat: 'This is a hard game'
Braves' new closer gives up go-ahead homer in 10th inning
ATLANTA -- Having grown up in Central Florida dreaming of becoming the next Chipper Jones, Shane Greene understands the concern he has created among the Braves' fan base that he was once a part of.
“It’s unfortunate I showed up with everybody excited for me to be here to get the job done,” Greene said. “I haven’t got that job done two days in a row. I just have to pitch better.”
It’s safe to say Greene’s first two appearances for the Braves have not followed the script of his childhood dreams when he longed to wear a tomahawk across his chest. His bid to quickly rebound from Saturday night’s blown save evaporated when Tucker Barnhart hit a three-run, 10th-inning homer that sent the Braves to a 6-4 loss to the Reds on Sunday afternoon at SunTrust Park.
“I haven’t seen him enough to think anything yet,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Those guys have those kinds of games.”
It will take time for the Braves to get to know Greene. But it’s safe to say they have not yet seen the dominant closer they envisioned when they highlighted this week’s bullpen-reconstruction efforts by acquiring Greene from the Tigers before Wednesday afternoon’s Trade Deadline.
Through two innings with the Braves, Greene has allowed four earned runs -- or one fewer than he did over 38 innings for Detroit this year.
“We’ve all seen what he’s capable of and what he’s going to bring,” Braves catcher Tyler Flowers said. “We’ve just got to work through it and get him back to where he was.”
Having split this four-game series against the Reds, the Braves remain where they want to be with a somewhat-comfortable lead atop the National League East standings. But to get to where they want to go in October, they’ll need to realize the value they envisioned when they acquired Greene to replace Luke Jackson in the closer’s role.
When Jackson struck out the only three batters he faced in Saturday night’s 10-inning win, it appeared the Braves had simply experienced one of those odd nights baseball so often creates. The 10th inning was necessitated because Greene squandered a one-run ninth-inning lead by allowing three singles, two of which had an exit velocity below 80 mph per Statcast.
Unfortunately for Greene, it was only natural for concern to grow when he followed this tough-luck outing by giving up hits to four of the first five batters he faced on Sunday. Four of the five balls put in play against him had an exit velocity above 97 mph.
Greene induced a double-play groundout off Nick Senzel’s bat and then permitted two more singles. This set the stage for Barnhart, who drilled a center-cut first-pitch cutter over the right-center-field wall. The three-run shot erased the excitement the Braves had generated when Ronald Acuña Jr. had hit a game-tying two-run homer in the ninth.
“[On Saturday night] I felt like I had really good stuff, just some bad luck there,” Greene said. “Tonight, I made one bad pitch and paid for it.”
It’s not like Greene currently finds himself in an unfamiliar position. He had allowed multiple earned runs in just one of the previous 39 appearances he had made entering Sunday. But he frequently tasted frustration when he posted a 5.12 ERA while converting 32 of 38 save opportunities for the Tigers in 2018.
When Greene introduced himself to his new Braves teammates on Thursday, he likened himself to a boxer by saying, “I’ll be throwing my haymakers, they’ll be throwing theirs, and one of us is going to get knocked out.”
Though Greene might have exited this latest outing showing the pain of a man who was on the wrong end of a haymaker, he didn’t appear to be mentally shaken by this unexpected and abrupt turn of events.
“This is a hard game,” Greene said. “I’ve just got to keep making my pitches.”
As the Braves spend this next week playing in Minnesota and Miami, Greene will have a chance to better acquaint himself with his new surroundings and prove he is indeed capable of being the difference-maker Atlanta fans envisioned when the trade was made.
“He’s got the personality and makeup it seems to be a closer,” Flowers said. “I think by tonight, he’ll be moving on and getting ready for the Twins.”