Johnson blows lead as Braves lose series

A.J. Minter strikes out two in his major leauge debut for Atlanta.

ATLANTA — The Braves twice came back from one-run deficits and took a lead in the seventh inning, but manager Brian Snitker hasn’t given up using deposed closer Jim Johnson in the late innings of close games, and he and the Braves paid a price for that Wednesday against the Mariners.

Johnson faced four batters without recording an out in the eighth inning, and all four scored to send the Mariners to a 9-6 win in a series-clinching finale at SunTrust Park. The Braves led 5-4 before Johnson entered the game.

Ender Inciarte had four hits and left-handed relief prospect A.J. Minter struck out two in a perfect eighth inning in his major league debut for the Braves, who’ve lost six of their past eight games at SunTrust Park.

They’ve dropped three consecutive home series including the first two on a nine-game homestand that concludes with

a series against the Rockies that starts Friday.

After Johnson gave up a double, walk, two-run single to Taylor Motter and another single to start the eighth inning, with a wild pitch and a stolen base mixed in, he was replaced by Dan Winkler, who promptly surrendered a three-run homer to Kyle Seager that bounced off the top of the fence just beyond the outstretched glove of center fielder Ender Inciarte.

Johnson, who lost the closer job at the end of July after a long slump, heard plenty of boos from a smallish crowd of 23,890 as he trudged off the field.

After the home run his final pitching line read four batters faced, three hits, four runs, one walk. And no outs.

That raised his ERA to 5.69 including 9.31 in his past 23 appearances.

During that stretch since June 21, the veteran right-hander has allowed a staggering 30 hits, 20 earned runs and 12 walks in 19 1/3 innings.

And he’s been worse lately, allowing 11 hits and 10 runs in 2 1/3 innings over his past four appearances, including multiple runs in three of those four games.

Johnson has been charged with four runs in each of his last two outings, the other on Saturday against the Reds when he gave up four runs in the ninth inning, rendering the Braves’ four-run rally in the bottom of the inning a mere footnote in an 11-8 loss.

The eighth-inning bullpen collapse Wednesday overshadowed another solid-but-not-stellar outing from Braves knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, and three runs in the first two innings by a Braves team that’s struggled to score before the late innings.

Freddie Freeman extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a first-inning hit in all three games in the series including an RBI double Wednesday that sailed over the head of center fielder Guillermo Heredia.

Inciarte and Brandon Phillips each singled to start the first inning and both would’ve scored on Freeman’s hit if Phillips hadn’t missed second base on his initial pass. He had to circle back and tag it, making it only as far as third on the hit. Nick Markakis hit a sacrifice fly one out later to put the Braves up 2-0.

It was a short-lived lead as the Mariners answered with two runs to tie in the second inning. Seager hit a leadoff single and Mitch Haniger doubled before Dickey got his first out of the inning on a strikeout. Guillermo Heredia followed with a sacrifice fly before pitcher Erasmo Ramirez singled to left field to drive in the tying run.

The Braves moved back in front the bottom of the second after a Dansby Swanson leadoff single. One sacrifice bunt and an Inciarte single later, Phillips’ ground-out scored Swanson for a 3-2 lead. Kemp would ground out to end the inning with runners on the corners after Freeman was walked intentionally.

Once again, Dickey couldn’t protect the lead for even one inning, as the Mariners scored two runs in the third to take their first lead, 4-3. Dickey gave up four hitters in a span of five batters to start the inning including a double to Robinson Cano, who left the game with hamstring tightness after the hit, and RBI singles fro Seager and Haniger.

Pitchers have been unusually productive hitting against the Braves this season and Wednesday they gave up two singles to Ramirez, who has spent his entire six-year career in the American League pitcher and was 0-for-8 with four strikeouts and no walks before going 2-for-3 against Dickey. He got the other hit in the fifth inning, a single to load the bases after Dickey intentionally walked Heredia with two out.

Dickey got out of that unscathed by coaxing a fly-out from Jean Segura, giving the Mariners nine runners stranded through five innings including at least one runner left in scoring position in four of those five innings. They left the bases loaded in the third and fifth innings