<p>ATLANTA -- Second baseman Elliot Johnson was denied extra bases when Padres center fielder Will Venable ranged into the left-center-field gap to make a diving grab in the first inning on Saturday night, making it halfway to second base before he turned for the Braves' dugout in disbelief.</p><p>The next morning, Johnson took little consolation from the fact that Venable has spent all year turning heads with highlight-reel plays, or that Johnson himself had robbed Venable of an infield single with a nifty glove-flip on a slow roller in the third inning of Friday's series opener.</p><p>Since Johnson was claimed off waivers from the Royals on Aug. 21, he has impressed with a handful of slick plays at multiple spots in the field and produced enough at the plate to earn regular playing time from manager Fredi Gonzalez. After hitting just .179 with 49 strikeouts and an OPS of .458 in 79 games in Kansas City, Johnson entered Sunday with a .259 average, an OPS of .657 and five steals in his first 19 games with the Braves.</p><p>"This is pretty much what I do," Johnson said. "Steal a base here and there, play some good defense, and offensively, I'll hit some balls hard, and sometimes they dive and catch it, and sometimes they fall in. That's just kind of the way it is, so minimize my strikeouts and I'll be able to be a serviceable player at this level."</p><p><a href="http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130915&content_id=60680944&notebook_id=60681188&vkey=notebook_atl&c_id=atl">Keep reading...</a></p>