Atlanta fell behind early and was unable to complete the comeback in a 7-1 loss to the Cubs.
The Atlanta Braves dug themselves a hole early and were unable to mount much of a comeback in a 7-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs.
The Braves found themselves in an early hole as Mike Tauchman took Charlie Morton deep on the first pitch of the game to give the Cubs their first lead of the series. Seiya Suzuki then sent a liner off of Morton’s foot that deflected into right field. Adam Duvall made a strong throw to second, but Orlando Arcia was unable to hold on.
Morton got ahead of Cody Bellinger 0-2, but Bellinger was able to punch a fast ball to left for a single to put runners at the corners. Christopher Morel then sent a grounder into the hole that Arcia made a nice stop on and threw to second in time for the first out. Bellinger scored on the play to push the lead to 2-0.
Morton got Michael Busch to ground into a force play for the second out, but then walked Miles Mastrobuoni and allowed an infield single to Nick Madrigal to load the bases. Pete Crow-Armstrong then squared to bunt, but was hit by a Morton curveball to force in another run.
The second inning went a little better for Morton who issued a two-out walk to Bellinger, but nothing else in a scoreless frame. He found himself back in trouble in the third. Morton started the inning with a strikeout, but then walked Mastrobuoni again. Madrigal followed with a single to put runners at the corners. Morton then uncorked an errant pickoff throw to first that skipped into right field. Mastrobuoni scored on the play to make it 4-0. He finished off the inning with back-to-back strikeouts of Crow-Armstrong and Yan Gomes.
Morton was replaced to start the fourth by Ray Kerr. He wasn’t sharp early and had some bad luck, but the Cubs did a good job of fouling off pitches to run up his pitch count. He allowed five hits and four runs, but just three were earned. He walked three and finished with four strikeouts.
Kerr pitched around a double by Bellinger in the fourth. He returned to fifth and allowed a single to Busch. After a fly out by Mastrobuoni, Madrigal singled to right, but was then caught in a run down and tagged out for the second out. Kerr had a chance to get out of it, but Crow-Armstrong dragged a bunt past the mound for another base hit to score Busch to extend the deficit to 5-0.
While the Cubs got off to a quick start, the Braves’ offense struggled to get any momentum against Javier Assad. Travis d’Arnaud doubled in the second and, Michael Harris reached on an infield single in the third, but Atlanta was unable to do anything with them. Zack Short singled with two outs in the fifth, but Harris grounded out.
Kerr allowed a single to Tauchman to start the sixth, but then retired the next three hitters in order. He would give way to Jesse Chavez to start the seventh. Kerr continued his good showing since his promotion and gave the Braves some much needed length after Morton’s early exit. He allowed five hits and one run over three innings.
Assad was replaced by Ben Brown to start the seventh and the Braves finally showed some signs of life. Arcia doubled with one out. Short came through again with a two-out double to score Arcia to make it 5-1.
The Cubs got back to work in the eighth as Crow-Armstrong tripled off Chavez and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Gomes. Suzuki added another run later in the inning with a solo shot to round out the scoring.
Atlanta wins the series, but falls to 26-14 on the season. They will enjoy another off day Thursday before beginning a four-game series against the San Diego Padres on Friday.