Braves miss another chance to reach .500 in loss to Pirates

After their 0-7 start, the Braves are 18-20. They are now 0-4 in games in which they would have reached .500 with a win, with three of the losses in the past nine games. They finish the series in Pittsburgh with games on Saturday and Sunday.

“It’s hard because you fight so hard from where we started and we kind of were digging ourselves out of that hole,” manager Brian Snitker said. “You’d love to get there and get on a little run and get over (.500). The guys are busting their tails and winning some tough games. We just need to try to get hitting on all cylinders and get a little winning streak going and get over that thing and put that behind us.”

The record might not fully reflect it, but the Braves find themselves in a small slump over the past two weeks. On April 30, the Braves faced the Colorado Rockies, trying to complete a three-game road sweep and reach .500 for the first time this season. But they lost that game 2-1 and since have exceeded four runs in a game only once, and that one required 11 innings — Thursday’s 5-4 home win over the Cincinnati Reds.

From April 30 through Thursday, the Braves hit .204 with an on-base percentage of .268, both of which were third lowest in the majors. They were 4-4 in those eight games and scored a total of 15 runs in the four wins.

“I think it can definitely be better,” first baseman Matt Olson said. “We won some tight games here this last homestand. Obviously, (Thursday) night and ‘Oso’ (designated hitter Marcell Ozuna) with the walk-off (in a 2-1 win Tuesday). So when things aren’t fully clicking and you’re able to pull out those wins, that’s a good sign. But at some point, it’d be nice to kind of get this thing rolling a little bit and not have to sweat it out so much.”

Against the Pirates on Friday, the Braves were again a quiet bunch. They managed seven hits with only one extra-base hit (as Eli White continued his extra-base bender with a ninth-inning triple). Pittsburgh starter Bailey Falter, who began the game with a season ERA of 5.06, threw six innings without allowing a run and gave up just two hits.

“Threw a lot of high fastballs,” Snitker said of Falter. “(We) couldn’t lay off ‘em.”

As has become their custom, the Braves did make a late-inning charge, scoring both of their runs in the top of the ninth.

With the Braves down 3-0, White led off with a triple and scored on a one-out sacrifice fly by Michael Harris II. With two out, Alex Verdugo singled, advanced to second on defensive indifference and scored on a single by pinch hitter Drake Baldwin. After Luke Williams replaced Baldwin as a pinch runner and stole second base, Ozzie Albies smashed a line drive to center field that was caught to end the game.

“We’re kind of coming alive at the end, but you’d like to try and pile something on just so that guy on the mound’s not on the edge of ruin all the time,” Snitker said.

A quality start by Bryce Elder (six innings, three earned runs allowed), his fourth solid outing in a row, went for naught.

“I thought there were some times it was good but at the end of the day, I didn’t get the job done, so we’ll get back to work,” Elder said.

Verdugo held out of lineup

While Alex Verdugo has been a sparkplug for the offense in the leadoff spot since joining the team April 18, manager Brian Snitker decided to rest him Friday night.

Snitker wanted to have a righthanded bat in the leadoff spot for Pirates lefty starter Bailey Falter (Verdugo hits lefthanded) and also give Verdugo a break. The team is in the midst of a stretch of 17 games in as many days and, as Snitker has pointed out previously, Verdugo did not have the benefit of going through spring training.

Verdugo did enter the game in the seventh as a pinch hitter for Stuart Fairchild after Falter left the game and was 1-for-2.

For his career, Verdugo hits .280 with an OPS of .781 against righties with a .250 average and .643 OPS against lefties. This season, he is hitting .302 against righties and is 0-for-10 against lefties.

In the leadoff spot, switch-hitting Ozzie Albies was 0-for-5 with a strikeout. He is hitting .225 for the season.

Snitker accepts responsbility for pitch-clock violation

In Verdugo’s first at-bat, he was assessed a strike for a pitch-clock violation as a pinch hitter for Stuart Fairchild in the seventh inning.

“That’s probably my fault because I told him to let Stu go on deck and I couldn’t find him then,” Snitker said. “I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t even realize. I thought the clock stopped when you’re making a change like that. I’ll take the blame for that for not paying attention to where he was.”

Down 0-1, Verdugo got the count back to 3-2 but struck out.

Baldwin delivers again

Though he has had little experience as a pinch hitter, rookie catcher Drake Baldwin shined in the role Friday. Pinch hitting for Nick Allen in the top of the ninth, Baldwin singled off Dennis Santana to score Verdugo and close the gap to 3-2.

He is now 3-for-7 when coming off the bench. Thursday, his 11th-inning single scored Albies in the team’s walk-off win over Cincinnati.

“That’s a rough role to do,” Snitker said. “And his at-bats all year have been really good. No panic in it, which is really an unbelievable trait for a young guy. He’s not up there trying to do too much. It’s just a really good at-bat. That’s a nice little bullet to have on the bench, too, as we’ve seen.”