Matt Adams leaves Cardinals for Braves to replaced injured Freddie Freeman

Matt Adams signed with Braves on Saturday.

It was another week of highs and lows for the Atlanta Braves.

On the positive side, they’ve gone from last place to second place in their division, but on the other side of the coin, they lost their best player to injury for at least two months.

On Monday of last week, the Braves kicked off a four-game interleague series against the Toronto Blue Jays that featured a pair of games in Canada and two games in Atlanta. Atlanta went 3-1 in that series, but suffered a major setback when first baseman Freddie Freeman broke his left wrist after being hit by a pitch by Toronto’s Aaron Loup on Wednesday of last week.

At the time, Freeman, 27, was leading the National League with 14 home runs and was batting .341. Freeman, who bats lefthanded but throws righthanded, had his wrist put in a cast and is expected to miss eight to 10 weeks. To say that you can expect for Atlanta’s offense to slow down would be an understatement.

But maybe not. On Saturday, the Braves acquired first baseman Matt Adams from the St. Louis Cardinals in hopes that Adams will be able to fill in for Freeman. Adams is 28 years old and is a career .271 hitter. Those of you who have watched Adams at bat in the past know that when he steps to the plate big things can happen.

The question now is what will happen with Adams once Freeman returns. One idea is that Adams will move to left field, which is currently occupied by Matt Kemp. Kemp is currently batting .351, so it’s unlikely that he’ll drop from the lineup.

Also during the past week, Atlanta went 2-1 in a series against their National League East rivals, the Washington Nationals. The Braves beat the Nationals, 7-4 and 5-2, on Friday and Saturday, respectively, in Atlanta before dropping Sunday’s game, 3-2.

In all, going back to Monday of last week, the Braves have gone 5-2 with a pair of much-needed wins within their division. Those five wins also rocketed the Braves from last place in the division to second place, but they remain seven games behind the Nats, as of Monday. The Mets were close behind them in third place with the Phillies and Marlins bringing up the rear.

This coming week, the Braves will get the chance to redeem themselves against the Pittsburgh Pirates. They began a four-game series in Atlanta on Monday that is scheduled to wrap up today (Thursday). Earlier this season, the Pirates swept the Braves in Pittsburgh in a three-game series of games played in miserably cold weather that included a little snow.

Tomorrow (Friday), the Braves will set off on a long road trip that will take them out to California for a pair of series against the Giants (May 26-28) and the Angels (May 29-31) before heading to Cincinnati to face the Reds (June 2-4). For those of you keeping track at home, the Braves haven’t had a day off since May 11 and aren’t scheduled to have a day off until June 1, which is basically a travel day between Los Angeles and Cincinnati.