Braves swept by Brewers, fall to 2-20 at home

Rain delayed their game against the Brewers for more than an hour in the seventh inning Thursday night, but when play resumed the Braves kept right on stranding runners with astonishing consistency en route to another home loss.

After blowing a 2-0 first-inning lead, Atlanta stranded multiple runners in every inning from the fourth through the seventh. The Brewers went from a tie to a two-run lead in that span and tacked on two runs in the ninth for a 6-2 win and series sweep, dropping the Braves to an almost unfathomable 2-20 at home.

The Braves are 12-34 overall — their worst 46-game record in more than a century — and 3-6 under interim manager Brian Snitker. They’ve lost 15 of their past 16 games at Turner Field.

They went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position Thursday, 0-for-16 the past two nights and 1-for-23 in the series.

“Guys that hit with runners in scoring position are very valuable people, and we’re just not doing it right now,” said Snitker, whose Braves are 4-for-53 (.075) with runners in scoring position in the past seven games. “We’re getting guys on, we just can’t pierce a gap. It would probably relax everybody, and that’s when you can go up there and put up a crooked number right there.”

Their last wasted opportunity came after putting two on with one out in the seventh inning, trailing 4-2. Freddie Freeman struck out then, and also lined out to end the game with a runner at second, making him 0-for-6 the past two nights with runners in scoring position, and 1-for-his-past-26.

He’s batting .125 (5-for-40) with runners in scoring position, after leading the majors with a .376 average in 2015.

The Braves weren’t done in the seventh inning. Tyler Flowers, whose first-inning homer staked Matt Wisler to a 2-0 lead, was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two out, but Kelly Johnson grounded out to end the inning.

Wisler (2-4) was charged with six hits, three runs and two walks with seven strikeouts in six innings, working out of a tight spot in the first inning but making a crucial mistake to his pitching counterpart, Wily Peralta, in the fourth.

After a Chris Carter leadoff single and Aaron Hill one-out double, Wisler struck out Alex Presley before intentionally walking Martin Maldonado to load the bases for Peralta. He threw him a 1-1 slider that Peralta hit softly to no-man’s land in shallow center field, enough to bring in two runs to tie.

“I made a critical mistake giving the pitcher a hit with two out,” Wisler said. “That was the biggest mistake of the game right there. Besides that I thought I threw the ball pretty well. Our guys battled tonight, as usual, but came up a little short. But I can’t let that happen, with two outs I can’t let a pitcher beat me.”

An inning later, Ryan Braun’s second homer of the series put the Brewers ahead, 3-2. Braun and teammate Chris Carter have 22 homers between them, while the entire Braves team has 20 home runs including eight in 22 home games.

Even Wisler hasn’t been immune to the Braves’ home-field malaise. He’s 0-3 with a 4.05 ERA in five home starts, compared to 2-1 with a 1.86 ERA in five road games (four starts). In May he’s 0-2 with a 3.86 ERA in two home starts, and 2-0 with a 0.61 ERA in two road starts.

Embroiled in another close game, the Braves needed to caplitalize on scoring opportunities. Again, they didn’t do it.

They had two runners in scoring position in the fourth inning after Jeff Francoeur’s two-out double. Daniel Castrol grounded out to end the inning.

They had two on in fifth after Ender Inciarte’s two-out single and a walk, and Freeman grounded out to end the inning. Freeman also struck out with two on and one out in the seventh inning.

The Braves had two runners in scoring position with one out in both the sixth and seventh innings.