The Braves did what they could offensively, but got beat on the margins and are now under .500 once again
I don’t know if I want to write this recap. Do you want to read this recap? Well, here goes.
The Braves did a bunch of good stuff offensively in this game, but ultimately, it was for naught. The Nationals had a killer combination of hard contact and “not hitting it at defenders” early on, and while the Braves valiantly battled back as best they could, they just didn’t get enough “not hitting it at defenders of their own” to eke out a victory. I usually put this at the end of recaps, but, what the hell: the Braves do have time to keep losing games like this, but not for too much longer, so they should probably cut it out.
The start of this game was pretty fun, because Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna went back-to-back homer-wise off Trevor Williams. Olson’s was a barreled no-doubter, Ozuna’s was a cheapie down the left-field line, but all the same, the Braves were up 2-0. It didn’t last.
AJ Smith-Shawver had been pretty good to this point, but he was very not good in this one — although, at the beginning, it wasn’t entirely his fault. An excuse-me tapper against the defensive alignment, a 50-50 grounder single, and a 50-50 liner down the line made it a 2-1 game almost immediately, and though Smith-Shawver escaped without further damage, he wasn’t anywhere near as fortunate in the bottom of the second. Robert Hassell III, making his major league debut, pulled the very first pitch he saw through the infield for a single. A really nasty four-pitch walk followed, and then a bloop single loaded the bases. A hard liner to center tied the game, and then, in one of the many things that happened in this game that make me not want to write this recap, James Wood hit a bouncing ball towards first base that could’ve not been horrible… except the Braves were once again not playing down the line to the pull side, so that bouncing ball cleared the bases. Smith-Shawver didn’t allow any further runs in that frame, but benefited from Michael Harris II flagging down a barreled ball to center for the third out.
Things didn’t really improve afterwards for Smith-Shawver. He got out of the third despite two barrels to the final two batters — one was a triple, and one was an out. That set the Braves up to tie the game with a protracted rally that featured a leadoff single, two walks, Harris blooping in two runs with two outs, another walk that chased Williams from the game, and then yet another walk from new pitcher Brad Lord that tied the game. Austin Riley went down swinging, though, so the Braves couldn’t pull ahead.
You might think that the Braves would have cause to remove Smith-Shawver with the third time through coming up and his dreadful game so far, but nope. Or, well, mostly nope. Smith-Shawver walked the leadoff guy, and then got to a 2-0 count on Wood when he was unceremoniously yoinked from the action. In came Aaron Bummer, who completed Smith-Shawver’s walk, and then endured the usual Bummer things — poorly hit balls in play pushing runs across. The first run came on a not-that-well-hit ball to center; the next came on a comebacker that could’ve been a double play ball had it not taken a weird bounce and allowed the batter to beat the relay throw.
At 7-5, the game kind of calmed down for a while, as a bunch of relievers did normal reliever things. Wood had another barreled out in the sixth, and the Braves pushed a run across in the seventh thanks to pinch-hitter Stuart Fairchild trying to bunt for a hit and drawing an errant throw, eventually followed by Ozuna’s two-out roller single. Drake Baldwin lashed a ball afterwards, but right at the shortstop to end the frame.
Pierce Johnson had to endure a wacky seventh — he got two outs, then allowed a hard single, a soft single, barely plunked a guy by the fibers of jersey, and then engaged in an 11-pitch battle with Jose Tena before the latter weakly flew out to keep it a one-run game. In the eighth, with two outs, Harris barreled a ball that is almost always a hit (and a homer in one park)… but it was an out tonight.
It was easier to complain about BABIP stuff until the ninth. I’d check the BABIP tally periodically, and it was ridiculous for a long while — something like .500 / .100 through the third, .450 / .250 through the middle innings, and so on. But, things kind of evened out. Sean Murphy got the inning started against closer Kyle Finnegan with a pinch-hit hard-hit single. Fairchild then tried to bunt, but given that it was obvious this time, he failed miserably, popping it up twice, with the second going for an out. Riley then came up and hit a really hard grounder, right at Tena at third. That could’ve ended the game (maybe it should have), but Tena pooched it repeatedly and everyone was safe. Olson was next, and he ripped a game-tying double into the right-field gap. The Braves rolled the dice with Riley, but he was easily gunned down at home — which led to one of the comical aspects of this game, where crew chief Marvin Hudson tried to explain what the Braves were challenging and fumbled the explanation. Oy. Ozuna popped out for the third out.
Raisel Iglesias came on to try and send the game to extras, but it was really Harris who succeeded at that task, making two excellent catches to bookend the set of three outs — one on a barrel going back, one on a soft pop coming in.
The Braves failed to score in the top of the tenth against Jackson Rutledge, and that was the beginning of the end. Baldwin had a first-pitch weak flyout, Ozzie Albies beat out a weak, high bouncer, and then Eli White had the unfortunate role of being the guy to absolutely torch the Braves’ win expectancy in this one, as he saw three straight sinkers from Rutledge, took the first, fouled off the second, and hit the third, which was pretty much down the middle, weakly for an easy double play.
Dylan Lee replaced Iglesias but he wasn’t out there long. A bunt moved the winning run to third, and though Lee threw a good 1-1 changeup to pinch-hitter Amed Rosario, the latter hit it hard and not to a fielder, ending the game.
The Braves now get a chance to get some revenge against the Padres and also actually make up ground against a team ahead of them in the standings for a playoff spot… but they’ll need to do better to notch some wins.