Seven-run seventh sinks Braves in loss to Cardinals

A seven-run seventh by the Cardinals against the Braves’ bullpen sunk the Braves in a 11-5 loss Thursday at Truist Park.

The defeat dropped the Braves to 5-14 in their last 19 and made for a somber postgame after the NL East’s first-place team let one get away. They had led 5-3 after an inning (the Braves scored five runs in back-to-back games for the first time since June 5-6) but couldn’t score again.

A silver lining to it all was the start on the mound from Hurston Waldrep. Waldrep went 5 1/3 innings and allowed three earned runs (all in the first inning), struck out four and walked one while giving up five hits.

Making his first start of the season, Waldrep threw 76 pitches. More importantly, he showed he could — and likely will be — a permanent fixture in the Braves’ rotation for the rest of the year.

He agreed afterward it was another solid step toward being able to go deeper into ballgames.

“Just kind of getting a little more trust for some stuff,” Waldrep said. “Fastballs felt great tonight, sinker and the cutter, was very pleased with that. Offspeed was, give or take. Couple good ones, couple bad ones.

“This is like something that I personally feel like I go through every year, not just coming off of a rehab (assignment). Every year you learn how to move again and learn how to get back in that routine of pitching. Last week, kind of saw it, lost the sinker. Today, felt like the sinker was my best pitch. Had the curveball for an inning, then messed up a couple times. That’s just something, like, you gain trust for those when you throw it over and over and over again. Three starts from now, maybe looking back and saying, ‘Alright, curveball, we have the curveball whenever we want.’”

After Waldrep retired to the dugout, though, all heck broke loose as the Braves (50-35) fell to 8-5 in rubber games.

Waldrep’s second appearance in a Braves’ uniform this season got off to an awful start. A slick roller hit by JJ Wetherholt to the right side went under the glove of second baseman Ozzie Albies on the game’s second pitch, and then Iván Herrera was hit by a pitch.

Cardinals’ right fielder Jordan Walker stepped in and belted an 0-1 splitter 396 feet out to left for a three-run homer, Walker’s 19th of the season.

“What happened in the first, that’s kinda on me. I feel like we shouldn’t have thrown the splitter there,” Waldrep said. “But that’s totally on me. I wasn’t confident. I didn’t throw that with everything that I had. I didn’t feel like that was my best pitch right there. And that’s completely on me.

“And that’s stuff that I have to get back in the groove of. When I’m going where I need to go, I’m able to shake that pitch and say, ‘I don’t feel confident in that, let’s go to something else.’”

But the Braves’ offense rose to the challenge in the first against Cardinals’ starter Dustin May. Mauricio Dubón cut the deficit to 3-1 with a bases-loaded single (making Dubón 7-for-9 with the bases loaded this season), and then the Braves got a bounce to go their way.

Dominic Smith ripped a 1-2 sweeper 92-mph off the bat that nailed May’s right foot. The ball caromed well into right field foul territory in what became a bases-clearing double that put the Braves in front 4-3.

May tried to carry on, but Austin Riley reached on an infield single to third, Mike Yastrzemski plated Smith with a sacrifice fly to deep center and Jim Jarvis, in his first Truist Park at-bat, executed a hit-and-run up the middle. Jarvis would be the last batter May would see.

“That’s a recipe for a win, when the starter’s out of the game in the first,” Weiss said. “You probably win that game 98 out of 100 times. We didn’t do much against their bullpen.”

Waldrep held the Braves’ 5-3 lead over the next 4 1/3 innings. He was lifted after a one-out walk in the sixth and Tyler Kinley (4-3) came in, threw one pitch and got a 4-6-3 double play.

All was going swimmingly for the home squad at that point, but Masyn Winn placed a flyball single into the Bermuda Triangle in left, then Nathan Church hit a down-and-in slider 392 feet off the top of the wall in deep right-center that tied the game at 5-all.

Twas a sign of things to come.

Dylan Lee, who has been virtually untouchable for much of the season, gave up back-to-back RBI singles to Wetherholt and Herrera, respectively, that put the Cardinals (45-39) up 7-5. The Braves went to Ian Hamilton later in the inning with one out and the righty served up a first-pitch RBI single to Walker, making it 8-5.

Lars Nootbaar’s RBI double to right made it 9-5. Walker made it 10-5 by beating a throw home by Braves’ first baseman Matt Olson on a Winn chopper.

The Braves came into Thursday with the only bullpen sporting a sub-3.00 ERA (2.72). An implosion against the Cardinals stands out as an anomaly more than the norm.

Alec Burleson added some insurance just for fun in the eighth by crushing a center-cut curveball from James Karinchak 395 feet to right for a solo home run.