Bullpen meltdown spoils strong offensive night in 12-9 loss

Well that was a fairly miserable game to watch, in a long series of them this year

After a strong win Friday night, the Braves were hoping to grab another win and perhaps begin the difficult task of resuscitating their 2025 season.

Joey Wentz got off to a good start, striking out Goldschmidt and Judge in a 1-2-3 first and working around a leadoff Stanton single for a scoreless second. The Braves’ offense only managed a Baldwin walk in that time, however, sending the game to the third in a 0-0 tie. Wentz got another scoreless frame on contact outs and Michael Harris crushed a homer deep to center to make the game 1-0 going into the fourth.

Wentz started the second time through the Yankees’ order in the fourth and had another fine scoreless inning. The Braves made a bunch of noise with two outs in the fourth, started by the catchers, as Drake Baldwin doubled and Sean Murphy walked. Ozzie then came through with a three run homer off the foul pole, his second in as many nights. The runners kept moving, as Nacho singled, Michael Harris walked(!!!) and Nick Allen got a fortunate infield single that scored Nacho. It’s early, but the homers and walk from Albies and Harris are promising. A turnaround at the plate for either or both of them would be huge not only for this year’s Braves, but the 2026 Braves too. Profar grounded out to end the threat.

Wander Suero got the fifth for Atlanta and gave back two of the runs on a Grisham double and a Volpe homer, cracking the door for New York at a 5-2 ballgame. The Braves’ offense came back with a threat, as singles from Acuna and Murphy gave Albies another opportunity and he came through with an RBI single, scoring Acuna and Murphy who had advanced on a wild pitch.

Despite the insurance runs, things got scary in a hurry, as Enyel De Los Santos got BABIP’d, loading the bases with two singles and a walk. Jazz Chisholm brought in a run on a single, as Ronald Acuna’s arm held what would be a second run a third. Rafael Montero was brought in at that point and induced a soft grounder that Matt Olson dropped on the transfer to allow a run on an error. Grisham brought home another run on a sac fly, making the score 7-5 with two Yankees still on base and one out. A groundout brought another run home, and the Yankees were within one run with plenty of ballgame left. Montero issued a walk to put runners on the corners for Goldschmidt, but struck out the former MVP to preserve the one run lead.

A Profar walk and Olson single gave the Braves another run, but they gave it right back as Pierce Johnson allowed a leadoff homer to Bellinger in the seventh before retiring the next three batters. A Murphy single and an Albies walk came to nothing, as Atlanta continued to cling to a one run lead. In predictable 2025 Braves’ fashion, Dylan Lee gave up a solo homer to Volpe in the eighth to tie the game before he finished off the inning. Then after another fruitless offensive inning, Raisel Iglesias got the ninth, hoping to keep things tied and hand a walk-off opportunity to the offense. It did not go well for Iglesias, as he allowed a double, intentionally walked Judge, walked Stanton, and then allowed a grand slam to Trent Grisham. That was Iglesias’ first earned run allowed in six weeks.

Despite a Murphy walk and a Nacho double turning into a run, Devin Williams shut the door for the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth and the Braves were right back at 11 games below .500, despite the offense putting together two consecutive good nights.

Join us again tomorrow for the rubbermatch at 1:35 PM ET.