Thanks to a serious stumble and getting swept (at home, no less), the Braves are once again seven games under .500 and right back in the hole that they started the season in.
I’m not going to waste any more of your time or my time going over this series, so I’ll just state plain facts to get this thing going: The Atlanta Braves headed into this series floating around .500, just like the Diamondbacks did. One of these teams was determined to start getting their season turned around while the other let an opportunity slip through their fingers. Let’s hop right into it.
Tuesday, June 3
Diamondbacks 8, Braves 3
I feel like this game has perfectly summed up Atlanta’s season so far. Spencer Strider started for Atlanta and he stumbled out of the gates to the point where he was pitching down 4-0 in the fourth inning. For a moment, it seemed like Strider’s teammates were going to pick him up as they broke out for three runs in their half of the fourth inning — including a homer from Drake Baldwin.
However, Strider ended up conceding one of those runs right back in the fifth inning and Atlanta’s lineup remained quiet from that point forward. The finishing blow was delivered in the ninth inning, which is when Corbin Carroll launched a three-run shot off of Rafael Montero in order to put the game out of reach for Atlanta to come back from. The Braves started this game in a hole, very nearly dug themselves out of it before falling right back in that hole. Sound familiar?
Wednesday, June 4
Diamondbacks 2, Braves 1
Let’s start with the positive, which is that Chris Sale pitched a dandy. He went six innings and only gave up one run while striking out ten batters. This was a vintage performance from Chris Sale and one that would’ve been good enough to help his team win a ballgame on most days.
The bad news is that this wasn’t most days. Merrill Kelly showed up and the Braves had absolutely no idea how to deal with him while he was out there. They only managed two baserunners while Kelly was on the mound and the offense didn’t come to life until he left the game following the seventh inning. That was when the Braves had two separate chances with the bases loaded and came away from those chances with a grand total of one run — which came on a bases loaded walk, mind you. Not good enough!
Thursday, June 5
Diamondbacks 11, Braves 10
Despite the fact that the Braves led this game by six runs on two separate occasions, the game never really felt completely in hand with the way this pitching staff showed up to today’s game. Despite the fact that the offense had a banner day at the plate for once (Ronald Acuña Jr., Drake Baldwin and Austin Riley all homered in this one and each starter had at least one hit), the pitching staff’s performance made it feel like the lead was teetering on a knife’s edge all day.
First, Grant Holmes gave up three runs in the fourth in order to cut what was a 6-0 lead in half to. 6-3. Fortunately, the Braves with three runs across the fifth and sixth inning in order to push it back to six runs. Then the ninth inning happened. Now-DFA’d reliever Scott Blewett came in and, well, blew it. Blewett gave up five earned runs over 1.1 innings pitch, which necessitated an appearance by closer Raisel Iglesias. Iglesias has been having a very rough go of it this season and today was no exception, as he gave up the final three runs that completed Atlanta’s collapse and doomed them to the worst loss of the season (so far).
For the rest of my feelings concerning this series and the Braves in general, please read this post. I hope y’all have a good day wherever you are.