Atlanta can’t keep on having too many more series like these before some alarm bells start ringing around here…
Coming into this weekend series at home against the Red Sox, there was reason for the Atlanta Braves to feel cautiously optimistic. After all, it wasn’t all that long ago when the Braves themselves went up to Fenway Park and took two-out-of-three against Boston in their own ballpark. Also, the Red Sox were in a bit of a funk after they’d lost five straight heading into this series. The Braves really were dealing with an opponent that was reeling at the moment.
With that being said, the Braves were reeling themselves. They had just gotten done splitting a doubleheader that cost them both a series against the Phillies and a couple of players as well. Playing a doubleheader before getting on a flight and then playing a game the very next day is certainly a rigorous demand for any given big league ballplayer and that was what the Braves had to deal with to start this series against their traditional interleague rivals. So with both teams dealing with a rough patch in their schedule, this was always going to be interesting to figure out which of these two teams would prevail.
Friday, May 30
Red Sox 5, Braves 1
Atlanta peaked in the first inning in this one and the run was scored in bizarre fashion, at that. Ronald Acuña Jr. seemed like he’d be out by a mile on his way home but the ball took a bad bounce that Boston’s catcher was unable to recover from. Just like that, the Braves were up 1-0 early on.
Things changed in a hurry once the middle portion of the game rolled around. Abraham Toro and Trevor Story began to deal out their double dose of punishment to the Braves on the evening, as Toro got on base before Story hit a go-ahead home run off of Grant Holmes.
Everything Boston added on from that point forward was bonus, as the Braves were unable to crack the code of Boston’s pitching staff on this night. Meanwhile, Toro and Story continued to torment the Braves both at the plate and in the field, with Rafael Devers jumping in and having some fun as well. It was just one of those nights, y’all.
Saturday, May 31
Braves 5, Red Sox 0
This was a lovely palate cleanser following Friday’s exercise in frustration. Spencer Schwellenbach was spectacular in this one, as he went into the seventh inning with 11 strikeouts, no walks and zero runs allowed. It was exactly the type of performance that was needed from a Braves hurler at the moment and it also helped that the bullpen entered the game and ensured that the Red Sox would stay off the scoreboard for the entirety of the contest.
Matt Olson’s first-inning RBI double ended up being the run that put the Braves ahead for good in this one. Ronald Acuña Jr. had a great evening at the plate, as he reached base three times on two hits and a walk — with one of those hits being another dinger. Austin Riley got in on the fun with a solo shot of his own shortly before Acuña’s two-run homer brought us to the final score of 5-0.
Sunday, June 1
Red Sox 3, Braves 1
With the series on the line, Boston went into this one with the upper-hand as far as the pitching matchup was concerned. Garrett Crochet got the ball to start this one for the Red Sox and the Braves were largely mystified by what he had to offer while he was out there. Marcell Ozuna did hit a homer off of him but that was the only blemish on Crochet’s line for the day, as he struck out 12 batters over seven innings with just that one run allowed.
Meanwhile, Bryce Elder was Atlanta’s starter and it was more of the same as far as Elder is concerned. He was able to eat his fair share of innings while he was out there but they weren’t going to be the cleanest innings in the world. As a matter of fact, Elder got his rough inning out of the way right out of the gate in this one, as Trevor Story hit a bases-clearing double into the gap in left-center in order to make it 3-0 Red Sox before the Braves had even come up to bat. Those three runs held up and the Braves have now lost four series in a row.
This was a truly unsatisfying series loss for Atlanta. Friday’s game really felt like it got away from the Braves in a way that was incredibly frustrating to witness. As fun and breezy as Saturday’s win was, it was just as lame to see the Braves go out and get stifled by Garrett Crochet in the series finale. Now granted, it is Garrett Crochet and he was just as good as advertised. Still, this was just an incredibly frustrating series to watch the Braves get through — and it seems like you can just throw this one on the pile with the way things have been going lately.
With that being said, the Braves have no choice but to figure out a way to bounce back and get their season back on track now that they’ve once again slipped a few games under .500. They’ll have a Diamondbacks team that has been competing in the same tier as the Braves (and the Red Sox, for that matter) lately, so it’s not like they’re dealing with an impossible mission to get things back going in the right direction. Still, it just seems like the Braves are just spinning their wheels at the moment and if they do make any movement, it’s in the wrong direction. Hopefully the bounceback will occur immediately after this rough series against the Red Sox.