Catcher A.J. Pierzynski gave the Braves an early lead Saturday with his first home run of the season. The Braves couldn’t keep the advantage because their pitchers and fielders kept throwing balls in the dirt.
The Braves had three wild pitches and two costly throwing miscues in the final two innings of a 4-3 loss to the Rockies. That was after the Braves had five wild pitches, two errors and a passed ball while losing 11-2 in the series opener.
“Last night we just got our asses kicked,” Pierzynski said. “And tonight we had a three-run lead in the eighth and we just didn’t get it done. There’s no other way to put it.”
The Braves led 2-0 after Pierzynski’s home run in the second inning and 3-0 after seven. They had played a clean game up to that point but unraveled in the eighth.
Braves reliever Hunter Cervenka inherited two base runners from Mike Foltynewicz with no outs and a 3-1 lead. Cervanka got pinch hitter Cristhian Adames to fly out but his wild pitch with Charlie Blackmon batting allowed Nick Hundley to score.
Cervenka retired Blackmon for the second out and gave way to Chris Withrow. DJ LeMahieu hit a ground ball to second baseman Gordon Beckham, who rushed and threw a ball in the dirt to first baseman Freddie Freeman. He couldn’t corral it and Nick Hundley scored from second base on the play, which was ruled a hit.
The Rockies scored the go-ahead run in the ninth after two more Braves wild pitches and another bad defensive play.
Trevor Story hit a lead-off single against Braves right-hander Jim Johnson. He advanced to second on Johnson’s wild pitch to the next batter, Ryan Raburn, and went to third on another Johnson wild pitch with one out.
Rockies first baseman Mark Reynolds followed with a ground ball to shortstop Erick Aybar, who was playing in. He charged the ball and fielded it cleanly but his throw bounced in the dirt and Pierzynski couldn’t corral it as Story scored for a 4-3 lead.
That play was ruled a fielder’s choice but a better throw from Aybar likely would have resulted in an out.
“Threw a couple (away), two or three yesterday and today,” Braves interim manager Brian Snitker said. “We can’t do that. That’s something we’ve got to get away from, and something we haven’t been doing. The thing we’ve been doing is playing really good defense.
“It’s tough against a team like this, that they just keep coming at you offensively. It’s a really good lineup and you can’t give them more than 27 outs. We did and it hurt us.”
