Braves drop Game 2 and road series against Cardinals

Five observations on the Game 2 loss:

1. The two losses here looked like the Braves of last month, for the most part. Yes, the Braves attempted to mount late comebacks against their opponent’s closer in both of them. But their offense never got going.

The doubleheader split means they dropped two of three here.

“We’ll, we’re just taking it a day at a time,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said when asked how he views the day. “I’m glad we won that first one, honestly. We gave ourselves a chance late in the game in the second one. Just couldn’t string anything together and get a big inning.”

Bryce Elder, appointed as the 27th man for the doubleheader, gave the club a chance to win. The bats, which came alive in the last homestand, fell silent.

In this second game, Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore blanked the Braves over six innings. He allowed two hits – both from Jarred Kelenic.

“Other than Jarred, we couldn’t get a hold of him,” Snitker said. “So, hats off to him.”

2. In a trade that sent Randy Arozarena to the Rays, the Cardinals acquired Liberatore, a first-round pick in 2018. To this point, Liberatore’s career hasn’t yet materialized.

He has pitched in 58 big-league games – 22 of them starts. And statistically, Wednesday was the second-best outing of his career.

Before facing the Braves, Liberatore had only thrown at least six scoreless innings once: He two-hit the Rays, who drafted him, over eight innings last season.

He entered the matchup against Atlanta with a 4.46 ERA in 38 1/3 innings this season. He’d started only four games.

He was only scheduled to throw 60 pitches, but he hurled a season-high 85. And why not? He was rolling. He struck out eight Braves.

What did Snitker see from Liberatore?

“I don’t know,” he said. “We couldn’t get a hold of him, that’s for sure. He did a really good job.”

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

In the eighth inning, Atlanta came alive and scored on Kelenic’s third single of the game. But Ozzie Albies grounded out to third base.

In the ninth against closer Ryan Helsley, the Braves had the tying run at the plate with two outs in Adam Duvall. But he struck out swinging to end the game.

3. The part that might sting most about this loss: Elder was excellent. He allowed only two runs over six innings. The Braves couldn’t have asked for much more.

They couldn’t make it count.

“Everything,” Snitker said of what he liked about Elder’s performance. “I thought he was really, really good. He was in the zone, he was changing speeds, the stuff was really good, the ball was coming out of his hand pretty good. That was huge right there, what he did. He gave us a chance to win.”

In his most recent appearance for Triple-A Gwinnett, Elder allowed six earned runs over four innings. But before that, he surrendered only two earned runs over 22 innings across three starts.

This result against St. Louis could give Elder some validation and confidence moving forward. The Braves returned him to Gwinnett after the game.

“I mean, I think you take it and run with it,” Elder said. “It is what it is. If you execute pitches, you’re usually gonna do pretty well. When you don’t, you’re not. So I was happy to come out and keep it close.”

In the first game of the doubleheader, Snitker used his best relievers with a four-run lead. He went to Pierce Johnson in the seventh, Joe Jiménez in the eighth and Raisel Iglesias in the ninth. Perhaps he could’ve afforded to only use one or two of them, but the strategy seemed thought out: If you’re leading the first game, put everything into winning it.

After Elder’s six innings in the second game, Grant Holmes pitched a scoreless seventh before giving up two runs in the eighth. Before those, he’d pitched six scoreless frames to begin his big-league career.

“He’s gonna give up runs,” Snitker said. “He hadn’t given up one until then.”

4. Kelenic was the Braves’ best hitter in the doubleheader. He went 6-for-9 with a home run and four RBIs.

Wednesday’s doubleheader marked the first time Kelenic has had consecutive three-hit games. And prior to this, he’d only notched a three-hit contest nine times in 315 career games since he debuted in 2021.

5. Orlando Arcia exited Monday’s game due to dizziness. On Tuesday, he underwent a battery of tests at a local hospital – all of which came back clean.

He was in the dugout in uniform during this doubleheader. He was available to play, but didn’t see the field.

After the loss, Snitker said he believes Arcia is feeling well enough to start for Atlanta on Thursday.

Stat to know

2-2 - The Braves are 2-2 in doubleheader games this season. They split a doubleheader with San Diego in May, then split this one with the Cardinals. A season ago, Atlanta was 7-3 in doubleheader contests, which was the most such wins in the majors.

Quotable

“No, it’s good. It’s really good, because we’re gonna need him again – there’s no doubt about that. Probably him and a few more, quite honestly. But that was really good to see today.” - Snitker on how encouraging Elder’s start was given the Braves will need him and others for depth

Up next

On Thursday, Chris Sale will take the mound against the White Sox – for whom he once played – in a makeup game at Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago. Right-hander Drew Thorpe will start for Chicago. First pitch is at 4:10 p.m.