Braves fall to season-worst 11 games under .500 after 2-1 loss to Orioles

“It’s tough,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker, who appeared to be at a loss for words after his team’s ninth defeat in its last 11 games. “It doesn’t get any easier. It’s not fun going through it.”

The Braves showcased three solid offensive nights in the homestand — six runs against the Phillies and Orioles and eight runs against the Angels — but they were overshadowed by the team only scoring five runs in the six other games combined.

Sunday’s series finale was no exception, as the Braves’ lone score came on a solo home run from Sean Murphy in the ninth inning. The club’s catching duo of Murphy and Drake Baldwin continue to swing red-hot bats, with 23 combined home runs this season, the most by a catching duo in the National League.

“We’ve got an All-Star out of the sum of the parts right there with what both of (them) are doing,” Snitker said during the homestand. “As we’ve seen, it’s obviously going to be a hot summer, so we’ll need them both to be good for us and keep them upright and strong as we can.”

Both Murphy and Baldwin started against the Orioles — just the third time the catching duo each appeared in the starting lineup — since usual designated hitter Marcell Ozuna had the day off. Snitker has stood by Ozuna when asked about getting the backstops more at-bats but acknowledged Ozuna, Michael Harris II and Ronald Acuña Jr. all needed a mental break.

Their replacements — Baldwin as the designated hitter, Stuart Fairchild in right field and Eli White in center — finished 2-for-8 with a walk. Acuña and Harris went a combined 0-for-3 after coming in the game as pinch-hitters.

Similar to the Braves’ previous losses, their starting pitching performed well-enough to win the game. The 2-1 final score should display that. But the offense continued to falter.

And Grant Holmes has often fallen victim. The Braves starter allowed two runs against the Orioles — both on a third-inning home run — to achieve a 2.36 ERA over his previous six starts. But here’s the kicker: The Braves went 1-5 in those games.

“It’s tough,” Holmes said of his 4-8 record not reflecting his 3.44 ERA. “You go out there and you expect to win, and sometimes it doesn’t go your way. It’s baseball. You literally never know what’s going to happen. Unfortunately, we’ve come on the wrong side of it.”

The Braves want to win every game they play, but losing matchups started by Holmes and Spencer Strider is brutal for a club with a depleted starting rotation and struggling offense.

The team will have to employ Bryce Elder with a 6.94 ERA in his last seven starts, 20-year-old Didier Fuentes and likely a minor-league pitcher — since Snitker said the Braves “can’t survive” consistent bullpen games — before reaching Strider and Holmes’ places in the rotation again.

But injuries are a part of the game of baseball, and not many opposing clubs feel sorry for the Braves. Especially the Athletics, who play in a Triple-A ballpark that the Braves will travel to Tuesday for a 10:05 p.m. first pitch.