The Braves’ furious comeback Tuesday night was spoiled by Alex Verdugo’s three-run homer in the eighth. It resulted in a 10-8 loss to the Red Sox to open the Braves’ six-game homestand.
Here are five takeaways from the game:
1. Verdugo sank the Braves with one two-out swing. Chris Martin, who for most of the year had been Mr. Reliability, struggled for the second time in three outings. Christian Vazquez and Bobby Dalbec greeted Martin with singles. He retired the next two to set up Verdugo’s at-bat, but Martin left a hanging splitter across the plate that decided the result.
“I just blew a game,” Martin said. “A game that we needed. Our offense fought and crawled back into the game. You don’t feel real good when you go out there, give up the lead and your team had battled all day.”
Manager Brian Snitker added: “Chris has been awesome here. Just nails here. It happens. It’s going to happen to the best of them, it just always hurts when it does. He’s been so good.”
The Braves are now 0-10 in games tied after seven innings. They have a minus-13 run differential in the eighth inning and later.
2. Braves starter Tucker Davidson was seemingly on the verge of escaping a dangerous first inning. The first two Red Sox singled, but Davidson coaxed a flyout from J.D. Martinez and then struck out Xander Bogaerts to win an eight-pitch at-bat.
But it immediately spiraled. Rafael Devers belted a 1-2 slider beyond the center-field wall for a three-run homer. Hunter Renfroe followed with a solo shot. The back-to-back blasts put Boston up 4-0.
3. The quick strikes were nothing new for the Red Sox, who ranked second in MLB with 52 first-inning runs. The Braves are No. 1 on that list with 54 such runs, though they were unable to score in the first inning Tuesday.
4. Davidson left in the third inning with left forearm tightness. He’d shown declining velocity during his brief outing. The southpaw pitched 2-1/3 innings, allowing five runs on five hits. He threw 53 pitches, striking out four and walking one.
“It felt a little tight,” Davidson said, explaining he started feeling discomfort in the third inning. “It just didn’t feel normal. I saw the velocity drop after that and knew there was something going on there.”
The 25-year-old will undergo an MRI Wednesday and go on the injured list. He doesn’t expect a lengthy absence. It disrupts a nice season for Davidson, who’d logged consecutive scoreless starts (11-2/3 innings) entering Tuesday.
5. The Braves engineered a rally by scoring seven runs across the fourth through sixth innings, tying a game they once trailed 5-0 and 7-4.
Ronald Acuna and Freddie Freeman each had two RBIs, though both also struck out three times. Guillermo Heredia had two hits and an RBI, while Abraham Almonte had a hit and RBI. Collectively, however, the Braves’ offense struck out 15 times and drew only three walks.
“We came roaring back,” Snitker said. “Newk (reliever Sean Newcomb) settled things down. Guys came back really well. ... It just didn’t happen.”
Stat to know
4 of 5 (The Braves lost for the fourth time in five games since reaching .500 again. They dropped to a season-worst 6-1/2 games behind the first-place Mets in the National League East.)
Quotable
“I just didn’t make the pitch. I left the pitch up in the zone and he did damage.” - Martin on his pitch to Verdugo
Attendance
The Braves announced a crowd of 36,638 for the first game of their six-contest homestand.
The streak continues
Acuna had two hits, extending his on-base streak to 23 games. It’s the longest active on-base streak in the majors. It’s also the third longest of his career. He can tie his second-longest streak Wednesday and continue chasing a career high, which is currently a 32-game stretch from June 19, 2019 through July 28, 2019.
Up next
The Braves and Red Sox finish their season series Wednesday. Ian Anderson (4-3, 3.26) will oppose Boston’s Garrett Richards (4-4, 4.09).
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