The Braves’ offense looks alive again. Unfortunately for them, the runs came on a day the pitching faltered, leading to an 11-9 loss to the A’s at Truist Park.
Here are five observations from Saturday:
1. The Braves were down 6-2 and 8-3, yet they led after five innings. They scored six runs in the fifth after averaging 3.4 runs per game last month. Those are the types of offensive explosions synonymous with the club in recent years.
This was just the second time since April 15 that the Braves scored at least nine runs in a game. They had 13 hits with five multi-hit performances. It came in defeat, but the Braves see it as a silver lining. The offense looked much more like itself.
“We’re in a good spot; we’re going to turn this around pretty soon and today was a good experiment to show that we’re coming back,” outfielder Michael Harris II said. He later added: “Obviously you don’t want to lose, but today was, I guess, a ‘good’ loss. We were down 8-3 and found a way to come back in that one inning, so that just shows our offense is coming back and we’re a hungry team.”
2. There were a lot of encouraging performances from the Braves’ bats. Matt Olson went 2-for-4 after entering the day hitting .346 (9-for-26) over his past seven games. He’s recapturing his form following a prolonged slump. He belted the game-tying homer during the fifth, his fifth home run since May 10 following a 26-game drought.
Harris II had three hits as the leadoff man, and the Braves would benefit greatly from him catching fire atop the lineup. Designated hitter Marcell Ozuna, the team’s best hitter, had two hits – including a homer – and four RBIs. He has a 25-game on-base streak.
Third baseman Austin Riley had his first multi-hit effort since May 7 and first since returning from the injured list May 27. “It’s just a matter of time for him when he gets his timing back,” manager Brian Snitker said. Left fielder Jarred Kelenic also had two hits for the second straight day.
“It’s a good sign,” Ozuna said. “Everybody knows that we’re coming, we just have to be on the same page and put everything together.”
Overall, Harris, Riley, Ozuna and Olson combined for nine hits and seven RBIs.
“There were a lot of positives there,” Snitker said. “Michael swung the bat really well. Austin, Matt. … But a lot of positives offensively. A lot of good went on, too. We lost the game but it was good to see the bats come alive a little bit.”
3. Chris Sale had a masterful May, earning a 0.56 ERA in five starts. After one inning in June, he’d surrendered as many runs (two) as he had all last month. By afternoon’s end, his ERA had ballooned nearly a full run.
The A’s lit Sale up, scoring eight runs on nine hits against him in just four innings (his shortest outing of the season). Perhaps he was due for a clunker – it happens to every pitcher no matter how brilliant.
“It just seemed like everything I’d done to be successful just didn’t happen today,” Sale said. “I left my team in a tough spot and here we are. … There’s no secret. We’ve been in a tough stretch and scored nine runs, have an explosive game offensively, and to put a damper on that sucks.”
Sale gave up homers to Miguel Andujar and Brent Rooker. He hadn’t allowed a home run since April 26, and hadn’t allowed multiple in a single outing before Saturday.
This ended Sale’s run of winning his last seven starts. He allowed more runs Saturday than he had during that stretch (six).
4. Sale took accountability after the outing, saying: “It’s pretty easy to sum up: There’s one reason we lost this game, and he’s sitting here right now. That’s unfortunate but at least everyone else can see that we’re going in the right direction, it was just one thing that happened today.”
Snitker dismissed Sale taking blame.
“Holy cow, (Sale has) picked us up so many times this year,” he said. “The guys battled back for him. They picked him up, too. We got ourselves in a hole but gave ourselves a chance to win. They picked him up today, but those things happen.”
Ozuna also defended Sale, saying it’s not on him, it’s on the whole team.
5. Reliever Jimmy Herget was hit by a comebacker in the sixth and left the game, but he’s fine and was going to exit the mound anyway, Snitker said. Herget was charged two runs on three hits and took the loss.
Stat to know
8 (Sale surrendered eight runs, quadruple the amount he allowed in May.)
Quotable
“Today was a day that was almost the exact opposite of everything I’ve done to be successful.” – Sale
Up next
The Braves and A’s finish their series Sunday when Charlie Morton (3-2, 4.29) tries to bounce back from a poor outing.
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