Rangers edge Braves after bullpen allows four-run sixth

The Braves let a 5-3 lead slip away, then couldn’t get one more clutch hit down the stretch in a 7-6 loss to the Rangers on Saturday at Truist Park.

A four-run sixth by the Rangers (50-48) against the Braves’ usually reliable bullpen turned out to be the difference. That unit entered Saturday with the fifth-best ERA in MLB before Tyler Kinley and Dylan Lee combined to give up the decisive four runs.

Down 7-5 in the seventh, a two-out single by Michael Harris II breathed some life into the Braves’ offense, which had been dormant for the previous 13 plate appearances. Facing Rangers reliever Tyler Alexander, Mauricio Dubón then drove an RBI double to deep left, scoring Harris to get the Braves within 7-6.

A two-out single by Jim Jarvis in the eighth got the winning run to the plate in the form of Drake Baldwin, but Baldwin whacked the first pitch he saw from Rangers left-hander Jacob Latz into left field for an easy third out.

Latz remained in the game for the ninth and retired the heart of the Braves’ lineup in order.

The two teams are scheduled to meet for the rubber game of the series at 1:35 p.m. Sunday.

Braves rookie Owen Murphy was making his first MLB start, and it didn’t begin with the best result. Old friend Joc Pederson, part of the Braves’ 2021 World Series title run, crushed a 1-2 fastball from Murphy into the Chop House in right.

In the bottom of the second, right fielder Eli White put the Braves (56-41) in front with a two-run homer — his sixth of the season — that traveled 406 feet into the Hank Aaron Terrace in left.

White’s blast was part of what would become a four-run inning. Baldwin, who drove in five runs in Friday’s win, made it 3-0 with an RBI single and Ozzie Albies gave the Braves a four-run lead with a sacrifice fly to center field.

But the Braves then had a defensive lapse in the top of the third that flipped momentum. On a lazy fly ball to left-center, left fielder Dubón ran into center fielder Harris, and the collision dislodged the ball from Harris’ glove.

That cracked the door open for the Rangers’ offense. Wyatt Langford and Brandon Nimmo drove in runs with RBI hits, two of four singles Murphy allowed after the error and before being yanked with two outs in the inning. Dylan Dodd got the final out of the inning, thanks to White making a sliding catch across the chalk in right field.

“A couple spots where (I) just didn’t execute my pitches,” Murphy said of his brief start. “In that third (inning), we got a lot of guys 0-2, 1-2. Just missed those pitches.”

Harris began the bottom of the third inning by launching his 17th home run of the season, a 405-footer into the second level of the Chop House.

All five of those runs came off Rangers starter MacKenzie Gore (6-8), who got the win despite allowing five earned runs on six hits.

The Braves’ two-run lead stood until the sixth when Kinley (5-4) gave up a leadoff double to Ezequiel Duran and then allowed a two-run bomb to Evan Carter out to right. Kinley hadn’t allowed a run in his previous four appearances, but has now given up seven home runs in 34 innings.

Kinley had replaced JR Ritchie, who gave up a hit in the fifth but nothing else. Ritchie began the year as a starting pitcher but has since been used both as a starter and a reliever.

Saturday was the rookie right-hander’s shortest outing of the season.

“Once we get to the sixth, it’s lined up for our guys. If it was an inning earlier, you know I would I would have thrown (Ritchie) for a couple innings if it was the fourth and the fifth,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “But once we get to the sixth, I’m going to go with our guys in a two-run game. It kind of lined up perfectly. JR did a nice job in the fifth. We got four guys sitting there waiting to throw, and we gotta lead, I’m going go to (them).”