In the first inning, Matt Olson singled for the Braves’ first hit of the night. In the seventh, he hit an infield single for their second hit.
That was it.
The Braves lost to the Reds, 1-0, on Monday at Truist Park in a makeup game for the July postponement. The Braves were shut out for the 10th time this season – all in a span of 86 games.
The Braves have played two makeup games this season – once in Chicago against the White Sox, the other versus the Reds. Both were 1-0 losses.
The Mets won, so the Braves are one game back of New York for the National League’s final wild card spot.
Five observations:
1. Monday’s loss was the Braves’ first 1-0 defeat at Truist Park, which opened in 2017. The team had played 585 regular-season games here before dropping this one to Cincinnati.
At this point, the Braves are holding out hope that they get hot in these next couple weeks. And really, they’ve been hoping for this for months.
They’re trying to remain optimistic.
“Well, you have to,” manager Brian Snitker said. “Yeah, you don’t have any other choice, really, but to just kind of feel that we’re gonna get something going. Just hope one or two guys maybe get hot and ride a wave for a couple weeks, or we score one more than the other guys.”
Before June 5, the Braves hadn’t been shut out in 182 games. They’ve been blanked 10 times since that date. And in that span, they’ve averaged four runs per game, the fifth-fewest in the majors and second-fewest in the NL.
Since June 5, Atlanta has averaged 4.0 runs per game; fifth-fewest in the majors and second-fewest in the National League, ahead of just Miami (3.9)
On this night, Nick Martinez threw seven scoreless innings against the Braves with relative ease. Two relievers followed. The Braves were rather quiet.
They didn’t have a punch in them.
They had only one at-bat with a man in scoring position. They put two men on base with two outs in the first inning, but this was probably their best chance. They hit only three balls over 100 mph, and two came from Olson.
“We good a good lineup running out every night,” Olson said. “We got a lot of faith in everybody. Obviously didn’t get much going tonight. It’s been a struggle at times this year. But what’s done is done, and all we can do is worry about tomorrow. It’s kind of the answer I’ve been giving all year, but I think we truly believe that. We got a lot of opportunity in front of us, and we just gotta go make it happen.”
2. The difficult part is this: The opportunity ahead of the Braves would be more doable if they had guys coming back. And that part is still a question mark.
Asked if he’s heard anything that could lead him to believe Ozzie Albies (fractured left wrist) could return soon, Snitker said no. The manager said Albies has been coming to Truist Park and doing treatment, and that he ran the bases Monday.
“But nobody’s come in and told me anything was imminent,” he added.
And Austin Riley?
The third baseman is still in a cast after suffering a fracture in his right hand. He can do agility work and stay in shape, but he obviously cannot do anything with that hand.
At this point, Braves fans probably have to hope the pitching staff continues to dazzle. This offense may not improve by much because of the circumstances.
That pitching gives the Braves optimism.
“Absolutely,” Snitker said. “Those guys have been unbelievable. Everybody. We’re just really pitching so well. A lot of optimism with how our starters have been so good. We’ve had one hiccup in three weeks, a month, something like that. And the bullpen guys have been really good, too.
“We just gotta hope that a couple of our big guys get rolling or whatever and get on a run, and kind of (increase) the room for error. There’s no room for error right now. When you’re having trouble scoring runs and you’re pitching really good, there’s just no room for error on that side. We just gotta keep showing up tomorrow and going 1-0.”
3. The part of the quote above that sticks out: “There’s no room for error right now.”
This is true. The pitchers are doing a superhuman job of keeping this team in games. The rotation is why the Braves could still make a deep run if they get into the postseason.
They need to score, though.
Charlie Morton on Monday allowed one run – a run that might’ve not scored if the Braves had better right field defense than Jorge Soler. Still, Morton took the measured approach when asked how he tries to block out the need to be perfect given the offense’s struggles.
“I think that room lends itself to being a teammate first,” Morton said. “And when you have that attitude in that clubhouse, it’s not really about that. It’s not really about blame or looking at the other guy, it’s more about trying to do the best you can for your teammates and the guys you’re spending every day with, and being supportive. If I’m not pitching well, I don’t feel like I’m being judged, I feel like I’m being supported. That makes it easier. That makes the hard ones a little bit easier to bounce back from, and it makes it a little bit easier just on a day-to-day basis. When I go out there, it’s about the team. It’s about me doing my job for those guys. And that’s it.”
4. At some point after Soler popped out in the first inning, he destroyed an iPad in the dugout. He threw it on the ground and stomped on it.
He went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Since the trade, he’s batting .188 with five homers – and four came in Colorado.
“He’s frustrated. A lot of them guys are frustrated right now,” Snitker said. “He expects to do better, they all expect to do better. They’re proud men and work really hard and want to be accountable, and it’s not an easy thing to go through – especially when we’re kind of playing all these tight games.”
They’re all competitors, of course. And the results haven’t been good enough.
“Nobody wants to go out and get shut out,” Olson said. “So, you’re gonna see stuff from time to time. But I think everybody does a pretty good job of, if something happens and they wanna get out some frustration, they get it out and they flush it and they mentally prepare for the next opportunity. I think that’s a thing we do really well here. It’s easy to let it snowball, but we do a pretty good job of flushing it.”
5. Next up for Atlanta: A two-game trip to Washington. Then back home.
The one-city trip is a rarity in this sport. Before a mouth-watering four-game series against the Dodgers, the Braves will need to focus in for the Nationals, who have given them problems this season.
On Tuesday, Reynaldo López will face left-hander MacKenzie Gore. On Wednesday, Max Fried will pitch against right-hander Jake Irvin.
Eighteen games remain.
Two years ago, Major League Baseball implemented a new postseason format that included one more wild card team. The Braves’ season would be even more in peril without this.
“Oh, I think it’s done exactly what they wanted it to do, which is keep a lot of people interested and a lot of teams in it,” Snitker said. “And I think it’s working. It’s created awareness to a lot more teams now, as we see at the deadline. I think it’s doing what they wanted it to do. And I’m glad – I’m glad we’re still relevant right now.”
Stat to know
3 - The Braves have three losses by a score of 1-0 this season, tied with Cincinnati and Oakland for the most in the majors.
Quotable
“I mean, they’ve been amazing. Charlie threw a hell of a game tonight. Some of the relievers worked out of some jams, made some big pitches. They’ve been doing that for a while now. And at the end of the day, we just gotta give them a little support on the other side.”-Olson on the Braves’ pitching staff
Up next
Tuesday’s game at Nationals Park begins at 6:45 p.m.
