PHOENIX — The Braves have come out of the first 10 games of the season with a 6-4 record. A solid mark, but the team left for Anaheim, California, on Sunday afternoon with a sour taste after back-to-back, one-run losses to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
The second of those two defeats came courtesy of Ketel Marte who ripped the first offering he saw from Braves reliever Joel Payamps (0-1) over Mike Yastrzemski’s head in right field for a walk-off double and 6-5 Diamondbacks win in 10 innings.
The Braves lost Saturday’s matchup 2-1 and their four losses have been by a total of eight runs.
“It feels like we could have done even better, honestly,” Braves catcher Drake Baldwin said of leaving Phoenix with a split of a four-game series. “It’s honestly a good feeling knowing that we could very easily be (8-2). I think everyone in here knows that and I think these two losses in a row kind of put it in perspective that people are still out there hungry. I think we’ll go out and keep trying to grind and win games.”
Baldwin went 3-for-5 with four RBIs on Sunday, his final ribbie coming with two on and nobody out in the top of the ninth against Diamondbacks closer Jonathan Loáisiga. But after that, Loáisiga, who had allowed three straight singles to start the inning, struck out Matt Olson, got Yastrzemski to fly to left and Michael Harris II to ground out to second.
Harris started the 10th on second base and went to third on an Ozzie Albies grounder to second. Mauricio Dubón grounded out to second and Austin Riley, now 6-for-34 to start the season and two for his last 30, flew out to right against D-backs reliever Taylor Rashi (1-0).
“We probably need to win that game in the ninth inning. Once you go extra innings on the road, you had to usually score multiple runs. Gets tough,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “We had some chances in the ninth there to score multiple runs.
“I love the way we fought back and tied it up in the ninth. I thought that was our opportunity right there was to win that game in nine innings.”
Braves starter Martín Pérez did his job Sunday, holding the D-backs to three runs in 5+ innings. He was pulled after a leadoff single to Carroll in the sixth in a 2-2 game.
Carroll stole second with Braves reliever Tyler Kinley on the mound, went to third on a groundout and scored when Nolan Arenado reached out and lobbed an RBI single into shallow center. That run was charged to Pérez.
But the Braves picked up Pérez by getting a ground-rule double to left off the bat of Jorge Mateo and some help from the D-backs’ defense. After Mateo stole third, third baseman Nolan Arenado fielded a chopper off the bat of Ronald Acuña Jr. — and simply dropped the ball.
Baldwin followed by slapping a groundout to second, scoring Mateo easily to tie the game at 4-all.
The D-backs (5-5) retook the lead in the seventh with Carroll’s two-out RBI triple into the right field corner making it 5-4. That lead lasted until Atlanta’s semi-rally in the ninth.
Baldwin continued his torrid start to the season by scorching a solo home run out to right in the top of the first. A 2-2 sinker by D-backs starter Brandon Pfaadt was hit on a line nearly 400-feet.
The D-backs countered in their half of the inning with a Marte double into the left field corner, then a one-out sacrifice fly to left off the bat of Geraldo Perdomo. Yastrzemski saved extra bases on the play by laying out to make a diving catch in the gap.
Pérez settled in from there until he got to the fifth. A broken-bat single by Carroll and a one-out walk to Arenado brought Jose Fernandez to the plate. Fernandez popped up to short and then Pérez got two strikes on Ildemaro Vargas only to see Vargas rip a cutter the other way into the right field corner.
Olson had to scoop Eli White’s throw back in on the short hop and Olson’s throw to the plate was too late to get Arenado.
“Just one pitch away from being out of the inning,” Pérez said. “I think it was great pitch. It was a bad hit, left field line and you can’t control that.”
The Braves came right back with a counterpunch in the fifth.
Mauricio Dubón, who hit a ground-rule double to right to start the inning, scored on a one-out Pfaadt wild pitch. Baldwin’s RBI single to left to score Mateo, who got to second after a walk and Acuña single, from second tied the game.
Pfaadt was charged three earned runs on six hits and two walks. He struck out two and threw 79 pitches in 4.2 innings.
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