Three Cuts: Markakis' record streak ends; Braves swept in D.C.
The Braves skid against the Nationals has now hit eight straight. To add to the ill feelings for Atlanta, their rivals set a franchise record along the way in claiming Thursday's series finale 7-0.
Doug Fister made it 41 1/3 scoreless innings for Washington, eclipsing the previous mark of 39 set by the Expos in 1981.
Herewith, three cuts from the Braves' loss in D.C.:
A week ago, Nick Markakis made history, breaking at tie with Darren Lewis' for the most consecutive errorless games.
That streak came to an end Thursday as he booted a ball off Denard Span's first-inning single, marking Markakis' first error since Aug. 11, 2012, a run of 398 games.
Confounding things for Markakis, it led to the Nationals' first run as Span, who took second off the error an, was moved to third via Danny Espinosa's sacrifice bunt and then scored on Yunel Escobard's groundout.
While Markakis has two Gold Gloves to his credit, the spectacular isn't always part of his arsenal. He plays it safe, hence a run of nearly 2 1/2 seasons without a mistake.
The record speaks to that approach, but it's intriguing how little errors mean in today's sabermetrics-driven game. Markakis had a defensive WAR of minus-0.8 despite going into Thursday without that error. Meanwhile, the Cardinals' Jason Heyward has a 2.3 defensive WAR, the Marlins' Giancarlo Stanton is at 1.5 and the Indians' Brandon Moss' WAR is at 0.2. Heyward has two errors and Moss and Stanton have three apiece.
Matt Wisler set the bar unfairly high in his major league debut, allowing just one run and six hits over eight innings against the Mets.
He didn't look like a rookie, showing poise and the arsenal that had so many salivating when he was acquired from the Padres in the Craig Kimbrel trade.
Wisler looked much more like a rookie on Thursday, surrendering two unearned runs in the first two innings and he gave up four extra-base hits in the first three innings. Punctuating it all was Ian Desmond's two-run homer.
He lasted just four innings, giving up six runs on nine hits and he failed to strike anyone out. One positive was he didn't walk anyone.
But Wisler's outing was only compounded with Fister throwing seven scoreless innings with four hits and one walk.
Considering the hype of Wisler and so many of the Braves' young arms it's hard not to get too up or down at this point, but at 1-1 and just 22 years old, patience is the optimum word here.
The Braves managed two runs in three games in Washington, a drought that pushed their losing streak in the nation's capital to six straight.
It also showed how much this offense is hurting sans Freddie Freeman.
Out with a wrist contusion and -- per MLB.com's Mark Bowman, having received a platelet-rich plasma injection to help the healing process -- not expected to be back when his 15-day disabled list date would come up, the Braves need answers in the top part of the lineup.
Sidelined since June 17, the Braves have scored a three runs in their last three games and -- when you take out the six they hung on the Mets on Saturday -- have seven runs in all without Freeman in seven games.
The top four of Jace Peterson, Cameron Maybin, Markakis and A.J. Pierzynski were a combined 2 for 16 Thursday and 12 of 53 (.226) in the series and were drove in just one run.
What's problematic for Atlanta is in the new direction of contact-driven offense, there isn't a major power threat on the bench and there's not much at the lower levels. Jacob Schrader is the organization's home run leader in the minors with seven, but he's not likely to supply any lift any time soon, suiting up up for the Class A Advanced Carolina Mudcats and Triple-A Gwinnett's top power hitter is Barrett Kleinknecht, who has three homers.
Regardless how long Freeman is out, if the Braves are buyers before the trade deadline, expect a power hitter to be on the shopping list.
Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney
