Guardians starter Parker Messick had the Braves’ number Saturday at Truist Park, leading his team to a 6-0 victory. It was the first shutout defeat of the season for the Braves, who saw a three-game winning streak end.
The Braves (9-6), coming into the night, had been 5-0 when facing a left-handed starting pitcher. But Messick had the Atlanta lineup, sans Michael Harris II, fooled all night.
The 25-year-old left after a two-out single by Braves catcher Jonah Heim in the bottom of the seventh. Before then, Messick (2-0) threw 84 pitches, struck out five and worked ahead of 16 of the 26 batters he faced in 6 2/3 scoreless innings.
“Offensively, we just couldn’t get anything going against Messick. He handled us tonight,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “A lot of jam shots. It’s a really good changeup. It’s a different look for guys, the little, funky left-hander. But the fastball plays up and, like I said, it’s a really unique changeup that he’s got. So he did a nice job against us.”
Ronald Acuña Jr. had a two-out triple for the Braves in the fifth, but that would be as close as the home team would get to scoring.
Atlanta’s bullpen, which had been so good this season, finally had an off day in allowing a run in the sixth, a run in the eighth and three more in the ninth as the Guardians delivered the knockout blow.
Braves starter Martín Pérez (0-1) got two quick outs in the first, then two quick strikes on José Ramírez, then watched a changeup go 403 feet into the seats in left, putting the Guardians (9-6) up 1-0.
Pérez battled and labored after that, but never gave in. He finished his night after five innings and allowed just the one run, only two hits, while walking three and striking out two. Pérez threw 86 pitches, none more important than the second offering to Steven Kwan in the top of the second with the bases loaded and two outs — Kwan ground out to second to end the inning.
“Sometimes you got a lot of traffic and just gotta go out there and compete, trust your stuff,” Pérez said. “I think that is the hardest thing in baseball: Trust your stuff and always do that. Just got to go out there with conviction and throw the pitches where you want it and you’re going to get good results.”
Joel Payamps allowed back-to-back hits to start the sixth. Payamps was lifted for Aaron Bummer, who walked Chase DeLauter before Rhys Hoskins hit into a run-scoring fielder’s choice, making it 2-0.
Osvaldo Bido served up a one-out RBI double to DeLauter in the eighth, making it 3-0. A two-out walk to Kwan in the ninth led to more trouble when Kwan stole second on what happened to be a wild pitch, then scored when Heim’s throw to third for some reason when toward the Guardians’ dugout.
Daniel Schneemann hit a two-run single off Tyler Kinley in the ninth to end any hopes of a Braves’ comeback.
“I kind of went for it in the sixth there with a 1-0 game, bringing in Bummer, which left us a little short at the end. Hoping Bido could finish. He did a heck of a job for us, Bido again. He emptied the tank for us. Unfortunately, I didn’t want him to go any further than he already went. I had to go get Kinley (for a second straight day). Didn’t want to have to do that. But that’s the way it ended up.”
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