Mike Foltynewicz had been the Braves’ best and most consistent starting pitcher this season until Friday, when it was his turn to get rocked.
The Cardinals whacked him around for nine hits, seven runs and two homers in four innings of a 10-0 series-opening win against the Braves, who’ve lost four of five games since a four-game winning streak and dropped six of their past seven at SunTrust Park, including back-to-back double-digit dismantlings.
Friday’s loss before a crowd of 34,465 tied for the second-largest margin of defeat for the Braves this season, topped only by their 16-5 loss to the Mets on Wednesday. They were rained out in the fourth inning Thursday.
“There was a lot to forget about today,” catcher Tyler Flowers said after the Braves were shut out for the first time since a 6-0 loss to the Mets on opening day.
After sweeping the Padres in the first four games played at SunTrust, the Braves have been outscored 60-26 and out-homered 14-3 in their past seven home games. They allowed seven or more runs in all but two of those games and have a majors-worst 6.09 home ERA.
The Cardinals had 16 hits after the Mets totaled 20 on Wednesday, marking the first time that the Brave gave up at least 16 hits in consecutive games since September 2002.
“We’ll turn it around,” said manager Brian Snitker, whose Braves allowed six doubles Friday and 15 doubles in their past two games,, the most ever against Atlanta in consecutive games. “We’ll play good baseball. Pretty much your starter sets the tone for your game. We’ve just got to right the ship there and then these guys will get her going….
“(Foltynewicz) didn’t have it, and it kind of got away from him. He had a rough time, a rough outing.”
Seven of nine hits off Foltynewicz (0-4) were extra-base hits including two doubles in the first inning, a two-run Aledmys Diaz double and two-run Tommy Pham homer in the four-run third inning, and a two-run Matt Carpenter homer in the fourth inning.
“Everything was just in the middle of the zone,” Foltynewicz said.
Asked if he liked anything he saw from Foltynewicz such as handling adversity, Snitker said, “No, not really, to be honest. It kind of got away. He averted some trouble early, then it just…. He’s been really good early (this season), but you need to be really good all the time, really.”
Foltynewicz entered with a 2.81 ERA and had not allowed more than two earned runs in a game. The Braves have lost all five of his starts and scored one or no runs while he was in four of them. But Friday wasn’t about a lack of run support.
It was about Foltynewicz continually leaving pitches over the middle of the plate that got whacked by Cardinals hitters.
“Just going out there first and second inning I knew I didn’t have my stuff today,” said Foltynewicz, who had two walks and four strikeouts. “So I knew I was going to have to battle all day pretty much. I couldn’t get (the ball) down. I just left all my pitches up.”
About the only bright spots for the Braves was a three-hit game for Ender Inciarte and the 400th career double for Nick Markakis, the eighth active player to reach that standard.
The Braves trailed 7-0 when Markakis hit a leadoff double in the fourth inning, and they failed to score after putting runners on the corners with one out when slumping rookie Dansby Swanson popped out and pinch-hitter Emilio Bonifacio struck out.
The Braves went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position and also failed to score after getting two on with none out in the second inning including a leadoff double from Adonis Garcia. Flowers was hit by a pitch before Swanson struck out, Foltynewicz put down a sacrifice bunt and Inciarte grounded out to end the inning.
“We’re a good offensive ballclub,” Snitker said. “We’ve been playing good baseball, we’ve been in games, but you can’t expect to come from behind just day in and day out. We’ve got to be able to get a lead and build on it. But these things go in cycles. We’ve done it before and we’ll do it again.”
Swanson went 0-for-4 to drop his average to .150 including .086 (3-for-35) at SunTrust Park. He’s batting .103 (4-for-39) with runners on base this season.
In Foltynewicz’s start Sunday at Milwaukee, he was charged with four hits and four runs in six innings, but three runs were unearned on a three-run homer by Domingo Santana in the sixth inning immediately after Swanson’s fielding error with two outs.
Santana hit homers in the fifth and sixth innings of game off Foltynewicz, who has served up four homers in his past six innings after allowing only one homer in his previous 38 innings going back to September.
Friday was his worst worst start since Sept. 12 against the Marlins, when the right-hander gave up 11 hits and five runs in 3 2/3 innings. Foltynewicz had a 2.64 ERA and .214 opponents’ average in six games (five starts) between then and Friday and had allowed one or two earned runs in each of those games.
The seven earned runs matched his career high set Aug. 20, 2015 at Wrigley Field, where the Cubs got eight hits and two homers in 4 2/3 innings against him. He also allowed seven runs (six earned) and 12 hits in 5 1/3 innings of a July 27 win last season at Minnesota.
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