CHICAGO – Braves pitcher Mike Foltynewicz is an Illinois native, born in Sterling and raised in Minooka. So even though he was Cardinals fan as a kid, pitching at Wrigley Field is meaningful for him, and he wanted his second start at the hallowed ballpark Friday to go a lot better than his first in 2015.
And it did. But it didn’t much matter in the end.
Foltynewicz was far better than his previous start at Wrigley and better than he’s pitched lately, but he was not good enough on a breezy afternoon when the Braves’ offense failed to show in a 2-0 loss to the Cubs and John Lackey.
Foltynewicz lost his fifth consecutive start while allowing five hits, two runs and three walks with two strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings — a solid showing against a Cubs team that led the majors before Friday with its 276 runs and plus-94 run differential since the All-Star break.
But the Braves mustered only three singles in seven innings against Cubs starter Lackey (11-10), who had no walks and five strikeouts and allowed only one runner to reach second base. That was in the second inning, when rookies Rio Ruiz and Dansby Swanson hit consecutive two-out singles before Foltynewicz grounded out to end the inning.
“(Lackey) got a little tougher as he went,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “The breaking ball was a little better pitch for him, and we just couldn’t get anything going.”
Ruiz, recalled from Triple-A late Thursday after Brandon Phillips was traded, had two of the Braves’ meager four hits, including their only extra-base hit.
“Definitely felt good to get some knocks the first game back,” said Ruiz, who hit .175 with two homers and a .551 OPS in 31 games during a May-June stint with the Braves. “Definitely would have felt better if we’d have came away with a W, but that wasn’t the case. Just come back tomorrow and try to score some runs and get a W.”
Foltynewicz (11-10) is 0-5 with a 9.00 ERA in his past five starts, though he’s given up only three runs in 11 2/3 innings over his past two after he was rocked for 20 runs in 11 2/3 innings over the first three starts in the losing streak.
“Just focused on trying to put them (previous) three in the back of my head and just focus on the future here,” he said. “Doing a pretty good job. There were a couple of times where we could have lost momentum and slipped up, but took a couple of deep breaths, and (pitching coach Chuck Hernandez) came out to calm me down.”
Foltynewicz didn’t allow a hit Friday until Kyle Schwarber’s two-out nubber of an RBI single in the third inning, after Javier Baez walked to start the inning and went to second on a Lackey sacrifice. “Folty” fielded Schwarber’s cue shot just inches from the third-base line and threw to first base, with Schwarber beating the throw by a split second.
Baez alertly came around to score all the way from second base on the play for a 1-0 lead. The Cubs extended that in the third inning when Anthony Rizzo led off with a double and Ian Happ followed with an RBI single.
Foltynewicz walked the next batter, but got out of the inning by retiring three in a row, including former Brave Jason Heyward on a foul pop-up for the first out of the inning with two on.
“He was really good,” Snitker said. “There was one inning there where he threw close to 30 pitches, then he had a couple of nice, efficient innings. I think he’s back to what I saw prior to the few outings in a row that kind of got away from him. I thought he hung in there and kept competing and kept getting back in the strike zone.”
In an August 2015 start at Wrigley, Foltynewicz allowed eight hits, seven runs and two homers in 4 2/3 innings of a 7-1 loss. As hard as the wind was blowing in Friday, it was apparent early that home runs would be unlikely for either squad.
“We (grew up) Cardinals fans, but to come into Cubs territory, where 90 percent of my friends and family are Cubs fans, it’s just a fun time coming home,” Foltynewicz said. “I didn’t do too well last time. To put in a quality start like today just pushes the confidence level up for my next start.”
Ruiz came as close as anyone to hitting a ball out when he drove an opposite-field double off the base of the left-field wall against right-handed reliever Pedro Strop, a hit that got stuck in the ivy. Ruiz was the only Brave to reach second base Friday and did so twice.
He was stranded both times, with the next three Braves in the eighth inning all grounding out.
