The Braves have a day off Thursday, and their maligned relief pitchers can certainly use it. So can fans after watching the bullpen blow another substantial lead Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks to end a 10-game trip with a thud.
They led 6-1 after two innings and 7-3 after four innings, but the Braves watched the lead vanish, as they wasted a two-homer game from Freddie Freeman in a 9-8 loss at Chase Field. They blew multi-run leads while losing the past two days against the Diamondbacks to finish 4-6 on the trip, with series losses against the Dodgers and Diamondbacks around a four-game split at San Francisco.
“Ten-game road trip, I think our bullpen got exposed a little bit, or some areas of the bullpen got exposed,” said manager Fredi Gonzalez, whose Braves open a series Friday against the surging Pittsburgh Pirates at Turner Field. “We need to fix that. We need to figure out a way — I need to figure out a way — a combination, to get the ball to (closer Jason) Grilli’s hands, somehow. It’s tough losing games like that.”
The Braves scored 24 runs in three games against the Diamondbacks, and lost two.
“The offense is swinging the bat really well right now, so hopefully this off day doesn’t cool us down,” said Freeman, whose three-run homer in the second inning was his fifth in six games, capping a five-run inning that staked rookie starter Mike Foltynewicz to a 6-1 lead. “But I like what we see. We’re putting up runs, and we know the pitching staff will come around.”
Foltynewicz didn’t have one of his better starts, allowing eight hits and five runs (four earned) in 5 2/3 innings, with two walks and five strikeouts. He gave up two hits to backup catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who had been 4-for-41 (.098) all season before Wednesday.
Saltalamacchia doubled in the sixth and scored on Aaron Hill’s two-out pinch single to trim the Braves’ lead to 7-5.
“There were a lot of two-strike pitches that I wish I could have back,” Foltynewicz said. “I left a lot over the plate, and major league hitters are going to put the ball in play. Other than that, I battled the whole five innings and gave up some infield singles. The outfield did great running down balls for me, and our offense exploded.”
Asked whether it was frustrating to see leads blown on the trip, Freeman said, “No. We know they’ll come around. They’ve always been there. (Pitching coach) Roger (McDowell) will work his magic. This bullpen takes a lot of pride in their job. We know they’ll get going.”
In the first game of the trip, May 25 at Dodger Stadium, the Braves led 2-1 after six innings, then watched relievers give up one run in the seventh and four runs in the eighth in a 6-3 loss. The bullpen blew a 3-2 lead in the seventh Sunday at San Francisco, but the Braves scored four runs in the ninth inning for a 7-5 win.
They weren’t able to overcome late-inning collapses the past two days against the Diamondbacks, who scored three runs Wednesday against relievers Cody Martin and Jim Johnson in the seventh inning, then another run in the eighth off Johnson for a 9-7 lead, rendering A.J. Pierzynski’s pinch-hit homer with two out in the Braves’ ninth a mere footnote.
“They scored a run after the starter came out almost every inning except the bottom of the ninth because they didn’t hit in the bottom of the ninth,” Gonzalez said.
The eighth-inning run came via two mistakes by Johnson. There was leadoff walk to pinch-hitter Nick Ahmed, a former Braves prospect who fell behind in the count 1-2 before working the free pass. Then, after Ahmed advanced on a ground out, Johnson fielded A.J. Pollock’s fielder’s choice grounder and made an errant throw to third base that sailed into left-field foul territory, allowing Ahmed to score.
“He’s out at third, or we get him in a rundown,” Gonzalez said. “It was just a bad throw. We were trying to keep him in the game and keep it a one-run game because we had the middle of the order coming up for us in the top of the ninth. And sure enough, that one run made a big difference, because Pierzynski hits a home run, and it could have been tied.”
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