LOS ANGELES – Playing for a series win at Dodger Stadium, the Braves’ bats went silent.
The Braves (6-8) lost to the Dodgers 5-1 on Wednesday. The Braves went 3-4 on their West Coast trip to San Diego and Los Angeles.
Here are five observations:
1. Manny Piña had just legged out an infield single that ended Tony Gonsolin’s no-hitter in the sixth inning. The Braves, down three runs, looked to jump-start their offense.
The next batter, Dansby Swanson, grounded into a 5-4-3 double play. Just like that, the Braves had no momentum.
This is how the day went for the Braves.
The Braves collected three hits. They walked four times, but grounded into three double plays.
Gonsolin pitched five no-hit innings and shut out the Braves over six frames. He issued three walks, but the Braves couldn’t do anything with them.
“He just throws a lot of breaking balls,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of Gonsolin. “He’s got a really good slider, and he throws it a lot. He’s tough.”
2. Charlie Morton compared it with driving a car. You are driving down the middle of the road when, all of a sudden, the car veers toward one direction. You don’t know why, so you start trying to figure it out.
That’s what he experienced Wednesday, when he was yanking pitches early and had to make in-game adjustments on the fly. It can be frustrating.
“Be aware of why I’m doing it and try to stay convicted,” he said. “Because it’s really hard to be convicted when you’re throwing a pitch and you feel like your delivery is where it should be, and then the ball misses by two feet.”
Morton allowed four runs over 5-1/3 innings. This is by no means a clunker, but his offense offered him no support.
Morton has a 6.32 ERA over three starts and had a tough road trip. This probably isn’t cause for concern just yet. Last season, Morton allowed five earned runs in two of his five April starts and still put together a great season.
“I don’t worry about a guy like Charlie,” Snitker said. “As long as he’s physically healthy, you don’t worry about him. They’re going to have one where it’s just not hitting for them. They always bounce back.”
3. Give Freeman this: For all of the intrigue surrounding this series solely because of his Braves connections, he gave everyone another reason to pay attention.
Freeman homered twice versus his former team: A solo shot in the first game, then the two-run homer off Morton in the first inning of the finale.
4. For years, the Braves have struggled to win at Dodger Stadium in the regular season. Even without Ronald Acuña, it seemed the current club, with all its talent, could reverse that trend.
These Braves lost two of three, though. With Tuesday’s win, they snapped an eight-game losing streak in regular-season games here. Over the past seven seasons, the Braves are 5-20 in the regular season in this ballpark.
5. It is worth noting that the Braves did not have a couple of key bats in Wednesday’s lineup.
Austin Riley went on the paternity list. Travis d’Arnaud did not play.
Stat to know
1-The Braves had one hit before the ninth inning, which sealed their fate in the series finale.
Quotable
“I would’ve loved to have won today and took a series and had a winning road trip. Would’ve been great. But like I always say, we haven’t even scratched the surface of what we’re capable of yet. But guys are hanging in there and working. That’s pretty much all you can ask. We’ll be fine. That’s a good team.” - Snitker on his team
Up next
The Braves on Thursday have their first off-day of the season. They’ll then begin a series against the Marlins on Friday at Truist Park, with right-hander Kyle Wright facing Miami lefty Trevor Rogers.
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