ATLANTA — Atlanta Braves left-hander Sean Newcomb hadn’t lost since his opening start of the season until falling to the Dodgers in Los Angeles last Sunday http://www.eaglesauthorizedshops.com/authentic-markus-wheaton-jersey , ending a six-game winning streak.

Now Newcomb gets a chance to bounce back against one of the teams he blanked during the streak as the Braves face the San Diego Padres on Saturday in the third game of their four-game series at SunTrust Park.

The Padres ended an eight-game losing streak in Atlanta on Friday night, beating the National League East-leading Braves 7-3 for their 12th victory in the past 17 games.

Newcomb (7-2, 2.92 ERA) held the Padres (34-38) to three singles in six scoreless innings at San Diego on June 5 in a 14-1 rout that was the only victory for the Braves (40-29) in that three-game series.

Newcomb’s performance was a near duplicate of his first major league victory last June in San Diego and gave him a 1.31 ERA during a seven-start stretch.

“Every time he goes on the mound you’re pretty confident we are going to get the win that day,” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said after going 4-for-4 with a homer. “He’s been lights-out for a long time.”

Newcomb hit a speed bump against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, though.

The 24-year-old native of Massachusetts gave up two first-pitch home runs, one on a three-run shot in the third inning, and allowed five runs in 5 1/3 innings of a 7-2 loss.

“I’ll do everything I can to not let it happen again,” Newcomb said. “I’ll take away the positives and move forward.”

Padres starter Jordan Lyles (2-3, 4.83 ERA) gave up eight runs in 4 1/3 innings as the Braves made things easy for Newcomb in San Diego and the 27-year-old right-hander took another loss in his most recent start.

Lyles again allowed 11 hits and this time four runs in six innings against the Cardinals in St. Louis, getting just three swings and misses on 102 pitches.

Lyles’ rough stretch followed some impressive work in May after he was moved into the rotation from the bullpen. He took a perfect game into the eighth inning against the Colorado Rockies in his second start and ended up allowing a hit and a walk while striking out 10 in 7 1/3 innings.

The Padres are the only major league team to never throw a no-hitter and Lyles was pitching against the team that released him last August.

“It would have been sweet regardless,” Lyles said afterward.

Lyles has a 6.35 ERA in four games (three starts) against the Braves http://www.eaglesauthorizedshops.com/authentic-avonte-maddox-jersey , with the loss in San Diego last week his only decision.

Both Newcomb and Lyles are former first-round draft choices.

Newcomb, acquired from the Los Angeles Angels in the Andrelton Simmons trade after the 2015 season, was the 15th overall pick in 2014.

Lyles was drafted by Houston as the 38th overall pick in 2008 and traded to Colorado after the 2013 season.

Colts general manager Chis Ballard showed up for a news conference Wednesday – just not the one he expected.

Instead of introducing Josh McDaniels as the team’s new head coach, Ballard stood in front of reporters trying to explain why New England’s longtime offensive coordinator reneged on a deal he initially accepted.

But if Ballard’s disgust about losing his top choice wasn’t clear from the occasional glare or the strong pitch in his voice, he left no doubt with one parting shot.

”The rivalry is back on,” he said before leaving.

Conducting a coaching search in February isn’t what Ballard or Indy envisioned when Chuck Pagano was fired just hours after Indy completed a 4-12 season on Dec. 31.

Exactly 24 hours after announcing McDaniels’ hiring on the team’s Twitter account and roughly 16 hours after he called back to tell Ballard he was out, the search begins anew for the jilted Colts.

Their other finalist, Mike Vrabel, has already taken the Tennessee job. Another top-tier candidate, Mike Nagy, has already been hired in Chicago. Baylor coach Matt Rhule http://www.eaglesauthorizedshops.com/authentic-josh-sweat-jersey , who also interviewed for the job, is back on campus getting ready for spring football. And it’s unclear where the Colts may turn next.

”We have a list of candidates, I’ve had them from the get-go,” Ballard said. ”There are other guys we wanted to interview, but because of the playoffs, we weren’t able to.

”We’ll move forward with them and we will get the right leader for the Indianapolis Colts – one that believes what we believe and wants to go where we want to go. I’m very confident in this.”

Ballard didn’t name names, of course, nor did he provide a timetable.

Oddly, the timing could present Indy with a unique opportunity to pick off a candidate who might emerge as a top candidate on next year’s coaching carousel.

Several possibilities exist including Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Frank Reich, who was part of a Super Bowl victory over the Patriots with a backup quarterback.

The good news for Indy is that the only coaching vacancy still looks pretty attractive – if Andrew Luck is healthy.

Indy still has Pro Bowl receiver T.Y. Hilton, Pro Bowl tight end Jack Doyle http://www.steelersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-mason-rudolph-jersey , a revamped defense that showed major improvement as last season went along, the No. 3 pick in the draft and about $80 million to spend in free agency.

Luck, meanwhile, continues to be the big question as he rehabs from last January’s surgery for a partially torn labrum in his throwing shoulder.

Some believe McDaniels’ sudden change of heart was related to doubts about Luck’s health.

Ballard didn’t bother asking McDaniels why he made the decision.

On Wednesday, though, he attempted to alleviate lingering concerns about Luck while acknowledging the franchise quarterback still hasn’t thrown a football since returning from Europe late last year.

”At this point, we feel very strongly that Andrew is in a good place. He doesn’t need surgery,” Ballard said. ”I have not gotten that from the two doctors that he’s seen here after the season. His strength is good. He’s working on his throwing motion and he’s working on his arm speed right now. He has not picked up a football, but he is throwing balls, working on arm speed.

”He’s going to do everything right to get himself ready to play and I’m very confident, he’s very confident Authentic Mikael Backlund Jersey , that he’s going to come back and prove a lot of people wrong,” Ballard added.

McDaniels decision didn’t just leave the Colts in the lurch.

Three assistant coaches – Matt Eberflus, Mike Phair and Dave DeGuglielmo – had already been hired in Indy.

While Ballard said he likes all three and will honor their contracts by keeping them on the next coach’s staff, others strongly criticized McDaniels from walking away from them.

”Haven’t read the article but I can tell you there is NO excuse big enough to justify this,” Dungy wrote on Twitter in response to a story that indicated McDaniels stayed with the Pats because he was more comfortable with the team.

”It’s one thing to go back on your word to an organization. But having assistant coaches leave jobs to go with you then leave them out to dry is indefensible.”

But as the news conference continued, Ballard said people say no to job offers every day, he wished McDaniels well at the end of Tuesday night’s brief call and that his primary concern now is finding someone who wants the job.

”To me, it’s about being right,” Ballard said. ”You’ve got to be right. It doesn’t matter if you’re the first out of the box and everybody praises you or you are the last one to make the hire. We want to be right.”

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