Braves can’t hang with Cubs in 7-3 loss
· Yahoo Sports
You know, there was probably a version of this game where the Braves scripted things to work Reynaldo Lopez and AJ Smith-Shawver for only a set number of batters each, and things ended up fairly exciting. That wasn’t what happened, though. The Cubs jumped over Lopez akin to what the Rays managed in his return from the Injured List, and the Brave never caught up, despite bringing the tying run to the plate in the ninth.
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Lopez really didn’t have much. He lasted just three innings, spanning 17 batters, and managed a 2/2 K/BB ratio with a grounder rate of about 30 percent. He got through the first fine, but the second featured the sequence of double-single-strikeout-walk, loading the bases for Carson Kelly. The Chicago catcher made weak contact on an elevated slider, but it was too weak to turn into a double play, scoring the first run of the game. If the Braves were desperate, maybe, maybe (but probably not) they’d pull Lopez here. But, Lopez stayed in against presumptive NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong, and what resulted was a weak flare on an outside changeup that plated two more runs. Lopez stayed in for the third, where a leadoff walk, and a later single and double made it 5-0 in favor of the Cubs.
That was it for Lopez, and Smith-Shawver took over. He got a fair bit of his defense but wasn’t walking anyone and the game clipped merrily along… until he was left in to face Crow-Armstrong a second time, and, well, a two-run homer transpired. Smith-Shawver actually ended up finishing the game, tossing five innings… but he managed a 1/3 K/BB ratio in his final 12 batters (as well as said homer). I guess the Braves saved the bullpen and managed to confine the Lopez-and-Smith-Shawver win expectancy wound to a single game, but… why?
Maybe because the offense was once again, not much of one. Sure, by the end of the game they managed to tally eight hits and five walks, but they had just one extra-base hit and hit literally 70 percent (okay, 69.6 percent) of their batted balls on the ground. They hit into three double plays, which pretty much killed any shot of a comeback.
First, the Braves did little against David Peterson, who put up a 7/3 K/BB ratio in six innings. Peterson finally departed after a leadoff single by Michael Harris II in the seventh. In came Javier Assad, and Mauricio Dubon greeted him with a grounder that Alex Bregman made a good play to snag, but then bounced the throw, putting runners on the corners. After Austin Riley popped out, Sean Murphy brought in the first Atlanta run with a slow forceout at second. The Braves then benefited from Mike Yastrzemski battling Assad for seven pitches before launching a two-run homer, but got nothing else.
In the eighth, Drake Baldwin got a single off Ryan Rolison, who then walked Matt Olson on four pitches. That brought up Ozzie Albies, but his descent into an unfathomably bad September continued as he hit a weak grounder to Bregman that nonetheless became a twin killing. Harris couldn’t bring in Baldwin, either.
So, that brought us to the ninth, with trade pickup Ryan Zeferjahn trying to preserve a four-run lead. He did, in the end, but the Braves got two grounder singles before Zeferjahn struck out Murphy and walked Yastrzemski. That rolled the lineup around to the top of the order and Ronald Acuña Jr., who hit the ball very hard but unfortunately too low and too close to Nico Hoerner, who turned it into a game-ending double play. Oh well.
The division lead drops to 4.5 games, as the Phillies are idle today. The Dodgers won, but I think the Braves have largely written off one of the top two seeds, hence the Lopez-and-Smith-Shawver show today. Martin Perez has apparently been moved up to start tomorrow, where he’ll face old friend/foe Kevin Gausman.