Atlanta Braves hitting falters again against Giants, drop fifth straight

As good as the Atlanta Braves pitching has been in the early part of this season, the hitting had been shaky and inconsistent.

But for the last five games, the Braves’ bats have been pretty much nonexistent.

Atlanta lost their fifth straight game last night, a 3-1 decision to the San Francisco Giants, marking their second straight game of scoring only a single run but leaving multiple runners on base.

The Braves left seven runners on base Saturday night, bringing their five-game total over the losing streak to 35 stranded runners. That’s a lot of runs left standing on the diamond.

And it hasn’t just been the situational hitting — leaving runners in scoring position — where the Braves have faltered. Their power numbers have taken a nosedive recently as well, hitting only three homers over that five game span and beyond.

The lack of production from the line up has affected nearly all the Braves hitters, even the normally dependable Freddie Freeman, who has gone 4-for-28 over a seven game stretch, with only 4 RBI.

The quiet Atlanta bats are wasting some pitching gems from their starting rotation, and manager Fredi Gonzalez may have to do some lineup shuffling if he wants to stop the bleeding.