Braves fall behind early, can’t rally in loss to Athletics
José Suarez ate some innings, if nothing else.
The Braves lost 5-2 to the Athletics on Tuesday at Truist Park after the visitors scored four off the right-handed starter. Suarez was called into action to fill a rotation spot after Spencer Strider strained an oblique muscle during spring training.
Suarez (0-1) had been competitive in spring training, allowing just one earned run and six hits over 9 1/3 innings in two Grapefruit League starts. He totaled six strikeouts March 20 in an exhibition against the Pirates.
Tuesday was a different story against the A’s (1-4) as Suarez didn’t make it out of the fourth inning.
Meanwhile, offensively, the Braves couldn’t do much against A’s starter Aaron Civale. Civale (1-0) left after giving up two runs and just four hits in five innings.
The Braves (3-2) had a brief lead Tuesday with Drake Baldwin’s solo home run in the first inning. Baldwin took a 2-1 pitch from Civale and belted it 410 feet into the Braves’ bullpen in right-center. It was Baldwin’s third homer of the young season, and it came on his bobblehead night.
The A’s got that run right back, and then some, in the second thanks to a two-out walk, balk by Suarez and RBI single to left off the bat of Andy Ibanez. Suarez couldn’t find the strike zone after that and found himself pitching with the bases loaded after a pair of walks.
Jacob Wilson ripped the first pitch he saw into the left field corner for a ground-rule double to give the A’s a 3-1 lead.
Ibanez made it a 4-1 game in the fourth with an RBI single up the middle. Suarez lasted two more outs before being lifted for reliever Joel Payamps.
Suarez was charged four earned runs, walked three, gave up five hits and struck out six. Of his 66 pitches, only 40 were strikes.
Payamps served up a 404-foot bomb to Shea Langeliers in the fifth that put the A’s up 5-1.
Ronald Acuña Jr. got the Braves a run closer with an RBI sacrifice fly to right in the fifth with runners at second and third and one out.
The Braves, 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, also had two on and one out in the sixth against reliever Hogan Harris but couldn’t score. Then in the seventh, they had two on and nobody out against Justin Sterner. But Sterner got Acuña looking, Baldwin to line out to left and Matt Olson swinging.
And in the ninth against Mark Leiter Jr. (S, 1), with two on and one out, Acuña struck out, and Baldwin popped up to second.
Martín Pérez, called up from Triple-A Gwinnett on Monday, retired the first four hitters he faced and then worked around back-to-back singles in the seventh. Pérez also worked a 1-2-3 eighth and ninth.
“That was one of my goals when they called the bullpen, I was like, ‘OK, I gotta go out there and I’m gonna try to finish this game,’” Pérez said. “I’m gonna give you the rest of the night to the bullpen guys, and then we can use it (Wednesday), and hopefully we can win the series.”
The two teams are scheduled to play the series finale at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday.
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