PHOENIX – The lack of offense. The missed opportunities when there was offense. Letting down the pitching.
This felt like the baseball we have watched the Braves play for much of this first half.
They appeared to turn a corner – and one night does not diminish that – but this was yet another loss in a winnable game.
With it, came a tough outcome: After winning the first two games of this four-game series, the Braves settled for a split with Thursday’s 1-0 loss to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
Atlanta has been shut out four times in 34 games after going 182 games without being blanked. In their last 14 games, they’ve twice lost by a score of 1-0.
Five observations:
1. The four-game series is difficult to win, and almost impossible to sweep. After two days, though, the Braves seemed like they might have a great shot to at least snag three of four against an opponent that hopes to make the postseason.
The Braves had won four in a row.
Now they have lost two in a row.
“We wanted to get the series win,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said, “but it just didn’t work out.”
Do not fret – they are still 51-41. Barring a massive collapse, they will make the postseason.
But they haven’t been able to sustain momentum past a handful of days. Their longest winning streak is six games, but that came in the middle of April.
What might it take for them to click more consistently?
“That’s a good question,” Matt Olson said. “Don’t have an answer for it.”
2. Facing a reliever, Austin Riley led off the seventh inning by smoking a double. With the Braves down a run, you perhaps thought: Here’s where this game turns.
Olson grounded out to second base.
Marcell Ozuna looked at strike three.
Adam Duvall grounded out to third base.
“We had four and five coming up right where we wanted,” Snitker said. “Just couldn’t make it happen tonight. That’s pretty much it.”
Added Olson: “We had a few chances tonight to cash some guys in, and didn’t. It’s always gonna be the first thing you go to.”
This all probably sounds familiar.
The scene above has played out far too often in this first half. The Braves, usually terrific in big spots, haven’t executed as well this season.
In the instance above, they allowed Kevin Ginkel to escape unscathed. They still trailed by a run.
And then in the eighth, consecutive Braves worked two-out walks, but Ozzie Albies grounded out to first base to end the inning.
In the ninth inning, Olson hit a ball to left field that carried and carried ... until Jake McCarthy robbed it at the wall. It likely would’ve been a game-tying home run, but instead it was the second out.
“No,” Olson said when asked if he thought it was out. “Honestly, it probably went further than it should’ve. I didn’t hit it that well. But yeah, had a chance, he made a good play on it.”
Before Thursday, the Braves had scored at least five runs in six consecutive games. They won’t be that explosive every night, but they have the talent to score a man from second when they have three chances to do so.
“We’ve been putting together really good at-bats,” said Max Fried, who started the game. “You’ve got to give them credit. They made some really good plays tonight defensively. We hit the ball hard. We were a foot from tying up that game in the ninth. These guys have been grinding, putting in the work. They’ve been putting together really good at-bats, especially. Unfortunately, we didn’t have anything to show for it.”
3. The lone blemish on Fried’s terrific line – a home run pitch – did not appear to be a mistake. Fried might tip his cap to Eugenio Suárez, who did something no one else had this season.
In the fifth inning, Suárez took Fried deep to center field on a changeup for the game’s first run. Fried spotted the changeup away and painted the edge of the strike zone.
Before that ball left the yard, Fried hadn’t allowed a home run on a changeup this season. The lefty had only seen five of the changeups in his career go for home runs before Suárez hit one out. And for context, Fried had tossed 1,111 changeups since debuting in 2017 – and 236 of them this season.
The location was not a mistake, but Fried regretted the pitch selection.
“I think for me, it was just more of probably not the best pitch to throw in that situation,” he said. “But at the end of the day, you’ve still gotta go out and hit it. It was just one of those (where I) wish I could’ve redone the situation and could’ve had it back, thrown something else. That’s kind of just the way that it shook out.”
Entering Thursday, opponents had hit only .182 against Fried’s changeup. He primarily throws the pitch to right-handed hitters. Whereas many of his other offerings go in to righties, he can throw the changeup away and give them a different look.
The one to Suárez didn’t seem like a poor pitch. But Suárez, who appeared to see Fried well in this game, put a great swing on it.
Fried hurled six innings of one-run baseball to finish a terrific first half. But he left this start feeling a bit conflicted.
“It’s mixed, because that’s probably the best that I’ve felt – mechanics, stuff, timing, just kind of all of that, that was the best I’ve felt in quite a while,” he said. “Knowing that you make a mistake on one pitch and give up a home run, that was an outing where, with the way I was feeling and the stuff that I had, I could’ve easily had a scoreless outing. It’s definitely frustrating knowing that (Arizona starter Brandon) Pfaadt was throwing really well and they’ve got a good bullpen.
“Hate coming out of the game losing, knowing that one pitch was the one I made the mistake on and cost us today. It’s gonna bother me.”
4. In the top of the sixth, Orlando Arcia hit a leadoff single to turn over the order. Jarred Kelenic, who has found a home in the leadoff spot, walked up to the plate to face Pfaadt for a third time.
Kelenic grounded into a 3-6-3 double play. He busted it down the line, but the throw back to first base barely beat him. It killed a potential rally.
The Braves struggled with the 25-year-old Pfaadt, who entered with a 4.19 ERA over 18 starts. The righty is young, but showed his mettle during Arizona’s run to the World Series last October. He might have a bright future.
Over six innings, the Braves collected only three hits off Pfaadt. They didn’t walk. They struck out four times. They were hitless until there were two outs in the fourth inning.
“He was really good,” Snitker said of Pfaadt. “We’ve been swinging the bats pretty well and you look at his overall numbers, but I’ve seen him pitch really good. We just couldn’t do anything with him.”
5. The Braves now head to San Diego for the final three games before the All-Star break. They’ll play the Padres, who have lost four in a row and are tied for the National League’s third wild-card spot.
The Braves will pitch these guys, in order, from Friday through Sunday: Spencer Schwellenbach, Reynaldo López and Chris Sale. On Friday, San Diego will start knuckleballer Matt Waldron.
The Braves’ performance this weekend will play a part in the lasting impression they leave as they head into the break.
“Obviously, you want to keep (the momentum) going,” Olson said. “Split the series here. That’s a good team. Scrappy bunch. And we got a good Padres team here coming up, so hopefully go down there and sweep or win a series and take it into the break with with a high note.”
Stat to know
3.08 - Fried heads into the break with a 3.08 ERA, which is his second-best mark in seasons when he’s made more than 10 starts in the first half. In 2022, he posted a 2.64 ERA over 19 starts.
Quotable
“I think it just happens organically. No one’s trying to make anything happen or re-create anything. It’s just kind of the flow of the game. When you’re in those stretches, you’re not really thinking about much and you’re taking what the game’s giving you. We’re definitely really close and right there, and we’ve been playing some really good baseball here coming up to the break. We obviously have a big series (coming up) – we’re gonna finish strong in San Diego. But I’m liking the way that we’re playing, especially going into the second half.” - Fried on what it takes to continue the momentum for long stretches, as the Braves did the last two seasons
Up next
Friday’s series opener in San Diego begins at 9:40 p.m.
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