Missing some late opportunities for a comeback, the Braves (61-30) suffered a disappointing loss to the White Sox, 6-5, Saturday at Truist Park.
Here are five observations:
1. This loss breaks the Braves’ 10-game home win streak. The Braves ended the first half of their schedule on fire at home and hadn’t lost at Truist Park since a 6-2 loss to the Nationals June 11 (they still won that series, though, taking the first two games).
2. Off Braves pitcher Spencer Strider (who gave up eight hits, five earned runs, zero walks, 10 strikeouts in six innings), the White Sox scored three runs in the third inning to take a 3-0 lead. Chicago made it 6-4 with a solo home run by Jake Burger in the sixth and, off reliever Joe Jiménez, an RBI single by left fielder Andrew Benintendi (who went 3-for-5 with a season-high three RBI) in the seventh.
With how potent the Braves offense is, neither of those felt insurmountable – despite being in prime position in the eighth and ninth innings, however, they couldn’t pull off a comeback.
The Braves loaded the bases in the eighth before a pop-out by center- fielder Michael Harris II. In the bottom of the ninth, a solo home run by right-fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. pulled the Braves within one run, and second baseman Ozzie Albies singled and stole second base. First baseman Matt Olson singled to put runners on the corners for the Braves before catcher Sean Murphy grounded into a double play to end the game on an anticlimactic note. Murphy went 0-for-5 in the loss.
3. Strider gave up five hits with two strikes, including that go-ahead home run by Burger in the sixth (which came on an 0-2 count) and was frustrated with his outing.
“Didn’t pitch well with two strikes, threw a lot of strikes, maybe too many,” Strider said. “Executed some pitches that weren’t hit very hard and those are usually not going to result in outs. So I needed to be better.”
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Braves manager Brian Snitker gave Strider a little more credit but echoed Strider’s point about two strikes.
“It wasn’t great results, I guess; his stuff was really good,” Snitker said. “There’s probably a point in the game where he’s throwing too many strikes. I think that’s maybe the cause of some of the two-strike hits. But the stuff was live and really good. It happens sometimes. … I think No. 1, he expects to win every time he goes out there. And then I think it’s just locating some pitches, especially with two strikes. Like I said, he got a fair amount of strikeouts, 10 strikeouts in six innings. But some two-out hits hurt him.”
4. Left fielder Eddie Rosario lost track of two White Sox doubles, and in the fifth inning, an RBI double by Benintendi snuck by Rosario to score Seby Zavala, giving Chicago a 4-3 lead. Rosario made the throw to third to catch Benintendi. But, for the sixth inning, Rosario was replaced by Kevin Pillar, with the Braves announcing Rosario was removed from the game with right hamstring tightness as a precaution. Rosario had a home run in the third inning to get the Braves on the board.
“The ball he dove for and then chased, he didn’t pop anything, but he felt it tighten up, so we’re just going to err on the side of caution right there and get him out and get him treated, probably put him down tomorrow, and then he’s got the off day and see how he comes in Tuesday,” Snitker said.
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC
5. In the seventh inning, Acuña stole second base to put him at 43 stolen bases this season, matching Oakland’s Esteury Ruiz for the most in the majors.
Acuña went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and two home runs.
Stat to know
1 (the amount of wins the White Sox have in the city of Atlanta, as they were 0-7 all-time vs. the Braves on the road entering Saturday)
Quotable
“It was tough. Didn’t pitch well. Didn’t win. The goal is to prevent runs. Didn’t do that.” -- a succinct Strider on his disappointing outing
Up next
Braves lefty Kolby Allard (0-0, 4.22 ERA) is slated to face White Sox RHP Dylan Cease (3-3, 4.30) in the final game of this series Sunday.
