Braves and Dodgers play into Sunday morning, but Atlanta loses series

“That’s why it wouldn’t matter to me if we waited,” Snitker said. “I wouldn’t care about starting late personally, because we do have a night game (Sunday).”

A follow-up, at that moment: Would starting late be a possibility? The radar predicted the storms would clear by around 10 p.m. or so. Would it be a realistic possibility to begin that late?

“Yeah,” Snitker said. “I mean, I think it is. Yeah.”

He called it.

In a game originally scheduled to begin at 7:15 p.m., Spencer Schwellenbach threw the first pitch at … 10:21 p.m. It was the latest first pitch in the history of Truist Park, which opened in 2017. The last Braves home game with as late of a start came in 2014 against the Nationals, when the teams began at 10:51 p.m.

Soon after the rain stopped, the Dodgers hit one rocket after another off Schwellenbach, the talented young starter who has struggled lately. The Braves lost to the Dodgers, 10-3. Atlanta has lost the series and will need to win Sunday to avoid a sweep.

Snitker was happy to at least get the game in.

“Shoot, we could’ve started at 11 o’clock and it wouldn’t have mattered to me – because I think we need to play them on that day,” Snitker said. “Them doubleheaders are taxing, especially when you get short starts. I don’t mind this at all. We’ll have a late show-up (Sunday), guys can get plenty of rest, play the one game. When I wake up, I’ll be glad that this one’s over. I wish we would’ve won it, but the lateness and all that had nothing to do with the performance or anything like that. Probably wouldn’t have done this if we’d have had a day game (Sunday), but we don’t, we got the night game. So this, to me, made sense.”

It got ugly, though. The Braves against the Dodgers this season: Five games, five losses.

At 9:20 p.m., Schwellenbach was told the game would begin at 10:05 p.m. He went out to the bullpen to prepare as if it would start at that time. Then he was eventually told it would start around 10:20 p.m.

“You just gotta stay locked in as much as you can, regardless of what the weather says or what time the game might start,” Schwellenbach said. “You just gotta stay locked in. It’s tough to be mentally in the mode – you’re getting ready and you’re locked in, and then all of the sudden you’re out of it and you wait two hours, maybe three hours, and then you gotta get back into it. But when I touched that mound, I knew it was time to go, and I felt really good and prepared, and ready to compete.”

Unfortunately for the Braves and Schwellenbach, the night didn’t go as planned.

When Schwellenbach departed after 3 2/3 innings, the Dodgers led, 5-1. A couple minutes later, they were up by six runs.

When Freddie Freeman (who still receives cheers here) blasted a three-run homer in the eighth – at almost 1 a.m. – it gave the Dodgers a seven-run advantage. An impressive crowd that stayed through the rain delay thinned out considerably.

The Dodgers made Schwellenbach work early. They didn’t score in the first, but plated a run in the second. In the third, Shohei Ohtani mashed a leadoff homer to center field before the Dodgers strung together a couple more hits for another run. In a four-run fourth, Schwellenbach was charged with three runs – one of which scored after he departed.

In spring training, Schwellenbach showed no signs of regression. In his first few starts, he looked great. But he’s hit a rough patch.

“I’m not sure (why opponents are hitting the ball harder over the last few starts), but I know tonight, just didn’t get into good counts to pitch,” Schwellenbach said. “They were laying off some good pitches and got into some good hitter’s counts and put some good swings on pitches.”

On Saturday, Schwellenbach’s 3 2/3 innings marked the shortest start of his career (this was his 28th career start). He had gone 4 2/3 frames three times, but this was the first start in which he didn’t take the mound for the fifth. Which is impressive, if you spin it that way.

Schwellenbach didn’t allow more than four runs in any of the first 24 starts in his career. Now, he’s given up six earned runs in two of his last four starts – once in Toronto, then again on Saturday. And in that four-start stretch, opponents are hitting him much harder than usual.

“Well, I don’t know if it’s a trend,” Snitker said. “I think what you’re seeing is a guy that’s learning on the job. He came last year and things went pretty good. There wasn’t a whole lot of adversity other than a couple starts early on where he left a couple pitches (over the plate) maybe. He doesn’t have a lot to fall back on, I guess, as far as experience goes. He’s a limited-experience professional pitcher, number one. And last year, everything kind of fell into place really well. He’s learning what this thing’s all about and how to make adjustments and get through adversity. He’s experiencing some rough sledding a little bit. But when I look at a guy like that with his makeup and composure and stuff, he’ll figure it out. I think that’s just all about getting out there and figuring it out.”

Without Spencer Strider and Reynaldo López, the Braves are relying on Schwellenbach to be a top-tier starter. They understand he’s young. But with the injuries, and with Chris Sale not in top form yet, it was comforting to think Schwellenbach could become an elite starter.

Now, Schwellenbach must adjust. But there’s a challenge to this. He has to make those changes without sacrificing his identity. After all, he’s been successful for a reason.

“I think it’s just trying to understand what was working, when it was working, and just learning from these outings,” Schwellenbach said. “You can’t do anything other than that. It’s a tough game. We say it all the time: Baseball is interesting. You go out and throw really good and then the next week you get hit around. It’s kind of just the ups and downs of baseball. But just trying to stay focused and positive, and keep that confidence.”

Schwellenbach turns 25 at the end of May. He’s 28 starts into his big-league career. He’ll likely have a successful run in the majors. This is nothing but a tough stretch.

It just has arrived at a less-than-ideal time for the Braves.

After winning four series in a row, the Braves have lost three straight – one in Colorado, two to the Dodgers. The Dodgers are one of the best teams in baseball, so it’s always a big series when they come to town. The Braves haven’t had a great showing. They’re still not playing their best baseball.

The Braves needed more from Schwellenbach on this night (morning?).

Then again, they only scored three runs against Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki – who signed with the Dodgers over the offseason – and the relievers who followed. The offense has been quiet for three straight games.

Going forward, the Braves must hope Schwellenbach can bounce back.

“First big-league camp, first year coming out of camp as a major-league starter, the adversity (of this recent stretch) – and he’ll be better for all of it, I think,” Snitker said. “He’s got too much upside. Shoot, we all go through it in this game. And he’ll learn from it. He’s that good that he’ll take all this and use it to his advantage, I think, and learn from it.”