It’s like they’re finding new and interesting ways to lose on a nightly basis at this point.
The Atlanta Braves battled back from being down 3-0 after the first inning but it still wasn’t enough to pull off the win. The game eventually was decided in extra innings and a wild pitch is what ended up handing a 5-4 win to the Giants in this one.
I can’t imagine that anybody in Braves Country was enthused about the way this game started. Matt Olson was the only baserunner to get on against Hayden Birdsong in the first inning and then the Giants essentially ambushed Spencer Schwellenbach right out of the gate. The first three batters for San Francisco all reached safely and they all eventually made it around to score. Heliot Ramos scored on an RBI single from Wilmer Flores, Jung Hoo Lee made it home thanks to a sacrifice fly from Dominic Smith and then Spencer Schwellenbach’s wild pitch ended up pushing the deficit to three runs. While this certainly wasn’t the worst first inning we’ve seen from any given Braves team, it was pretty frustrating to watch them stumble out of the gates to start this one.
Fortunately, the Braves eventually got themselves into the fight. Hayden Birdsong gave the Braves an “in” by hitting Matt Olson to lead off the fourth inning and he continued to help bring the Braves back to life by walking Marcell Ozuna and Ozzie Albies in order to end up in a bases-loaded mess of his own making.
The good news is that the Braves didn’t completely waste this opportunity — Sean Murphy’s sacrifice fly put the Braves on the board (in bizarre fashion since someone threw a ball from the stands and onto the field as Mike Yastrzemski’s throw home was coming in) and then Michael Harris II poked one out to center to bring the Braves within one run. They still had some work to do in order to wipe out the deficit but this was at least a statement of intent that they weren’t going to completely roll over in this one.
We didn’t have to wait too much longer to see some more action and sadly this next moment was in favor of the Giants. Wilmer Flores hit a one-out single and then Matt Chapman followed that up with a double to put two runners in scoring position with just one out. Dominic Smith’s second sacrifice fly of the night pushed San Francisco’s lead back to two runs and the task became slightly more difficult for Atlanta going forward.
By the time the seventh inning rolled around, both teams had entered into their bullpen — Spencer Schwellenbach’s night was done after six innings and this was one of those games where the best thing you can say is that Schwellenbach kept battling. Usually if you give up a few runs early on, the rest of the game can go one of two ways. It says a lot about Schwellenbach that he was able to make sure that it went in a positive direction following his rough first inning, as he settled in and kept the Braves in the game with his efforts on the night.
Meanwhile, Hayden Birdsong had been long gone from the contest once the seventh inning had gotten started. Ryan Walker welcomed Austin Riley to the plate to start the top of the seventh and Austin Riley gave him a rude welcome in response, as he led off the frame with a single. Matt Olson then came up to the plate and he eventually got a slider that stayed right in the heart of the strike zone. Olson connected and made no mistake with it, sending it flying into the seats atop the right field wall in order to make it a brand new ballgame at 4-4.
The first pitcher out of Atlanta’s bullpen to help preserve the deadlock was none other than Craig Kimbrel, himself. Kimbrel’s 2025 big league debut and his first outing back in a Braves uniform for the first time since 2014 went alright. Kimbrel did give up a single and a walk but both baserunners were taken out via good defense or poor baserunning — depending on who you ask. Heliot Ramos got caught stealing second for the first out of the inning and then Kimbrel himself picked off Jung Hoo Lee for the second out. He then got WIlmer Flores to strike out in order to complete the scoreless inning in his still-shocking return to Atlanta (well, not literally Atlanta (or Cobb County) but you get my point).
Tyler Fitzgerald was the only player to reach base for either team during the eighth and ninth innings, which meant that this game sauntered into extra innings tied at four runs apiece. Atlanta got the first crack at it and found themselves in a bases-loaded situation with two out in the tenth. Luke Williams came to the plate as a pinch-hitter and with all due respect to Luke Williams, it wasn’t really a major shock to see him ground out softly to end the frame.
The Braves went with Pierce Johnson again for the tenth and hoo boy, this was an incredibly disappointing way to end the game for everybody involved pulling for Atlanta. Johnson got the first out on a ground ball and then he got the second out on a productive out that moved the Manfred Man over to third base. Johnson then was one strike away from potentially pushing it to the 11th before he picked the worst possible moment in this game to uncork a wild pitch. The ball made it to the backstop and Fitzgerald scored so now the Braves are a season-high eight games under .500 — both in the standings and in the state of California here in 2025.
If you’re on the East Coast and you stayed up for that, I don’t know what to tell you other than to thank you for staying up with us. I wish we had better results to write about but for now, it is what it is. The Braves just aren’t a very good baseball team and it’s hard to see that fact changing in the near future. All they can do is just keep plugging away and hopefully we’ll see them at least pick up a win tomorrow evening so they can hopefully put an end to this rotten skid. We’ll see what happens tomorrow starting at 4:05 p.m. ET.