The Braves could only muster up one run against the Brewers to tie the three-game series—a complete contrast to their prior game.
Just when Atlanta Braves fans thought the trajectory was going upward, a loss was added to their record in game two against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The same fiery bats that were awake yesterday were nearly silenced today as the offense struggled to collect runs to best the Brewers’ four (runs) on the board to tie the series.
Grant Holmes tied for the most strikeouts (nine) in one game in his career through his five and one-third inning performance, giving up three earned runs and five hits in his outing of 100 pitches.
The first two runs were a two-run homer off his slider from Brewers’ Jackson Chourio in the bottom of the third inning. And the other was a homer from Brewers’ Jake Bauers in the sixth off his four-seamer.
He appeared to gain more of a spark in the fifth inning, striking out the side on 10 pitches and keeping the game close (2-1).
The one run from the Braves came from an RBI-single in the top of the fifth from Ronald Acuña Jr. to bring in Nick Allen.
After giving up the homer from Bauers, he got pulled to be replaced with Braves reliever Aaron Bummer in the sixth.
Bummer only lasted 0.2 innings after loading the bases (no outs) in the bottom of the seventh, that’s when reliever Jose Ruiz replaced him for his Braves debut and gained his first strikeout against Chourio, but walked Brewers’ William Contreras to extend the Brewers’ lead by three (4-1).
When the Braves broke their seven-game losing streak at the beginning of the season, they had a knack for coming alive in the bottom of the eighth inning to secure a few of their wins.
That was what Braves’ fans were hoping to see again after yesterday’s blowout performance, but with their eight total hits against the Brewers’ six, leaving seven stranded on base in four at-bats with RISP, along with three of their key hitters in the lineup (Austin Riley, Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies) collecting two-three strikeouts during this game, they just couldn’t find a way to not only turn those hits to runs, but take smart swings at the plate.
On paper, one would assume Brewers’ pitcher Quinn Priester (6 IP/7 H/1 ER/ 7Ks) would provide an easy-win in his second career start against the Braves, but had no problem holding off the team with a 27.1% whiff rate.
The Braves haven’t won back-to-back games since May 15th and 16th (versus Washington and Boston), and the trip against Boston was the last time they won a series.
The possibility of a series win here is still attainable, as they have game three to close out the series tomorrow with Spencer Schwellenback expected to take the mound.
However, it’s getting harder for the team to provide hope that they’ll turn a full 180 degrees before they fall too far behind.. or have they already done so?
Consistency is the magic word that the Braves have to master in order to get out of this rut on both sides.
Glimpses of offensive production here and there won’t be enough in the end to carry this team to where they were expected to be prior to this season.