It was an all-around bad night at the office for the Braves in Monday’s series finale against the Dodgers at Truist Park. The Braves were shutout 9-0 as they went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and gave up nine runs on four hits. Atlanta had two chances to win the four-game series after earning victories in Games 1 and 2 but the Dodgers forced a split. The Braves are one game behind the Mets for the third and final NL Wild Card spot.
Here are five observations:
1. 0-for-a dozen
Atlanta had plenty of scoring opportunities but went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base. Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed just four hits over a scoreless four innings but he escaped major trouble in multiple instances.
The Braves leadoff man reached first base in all four innings of Yamamoto’s outing. Michael Harris II was stranded at first in the top of the first after he walked to start the Braves’ night on offense. Sean Murphy led off the second inning with a double but the next three batters went down in order. In the bottom of the third inning, Harris once again reached base to start the frame with a leadoff single. He was thrown out at home trying to score from first on a Jorge Soler double. Ramón Laureano led off the fourth inning with a triple but Murphy struck out, Orlando Arcia grounded out and Gio Urshela lined out to end the frame.
“We just had a hard time getting anything in the air,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s frustrating when you get a runner in scoring position like that and can’t at least get one (run).”
Four Dodgers relievers covered the remaining five innings and did not allow a hit.
“That’s a good bullpen,” Snitker said. “They have a bunch of former closers out there. Still, you (have to) take advantage of the opportunities that we had and put some runs on the board.”
In the first two games of the series, the Braves outscored the Dodgers 16-3 and went 5-for-14 with runners in scoring position. In the final two games of the series, the Braves were outscored 18-2 and went 1-for-19 with runners in scoring position.
“It just makes it more frustrating against a team like that late in the season, trying to make a push for a playoff spot,” Harris said. “Now we know we (have to) really lock in and come (through in) those situations to try to get runs. Against teams like that it kind of gets you ready for the playoffs. I feel like we, for the most part this series, hung with them and we did what we needed to do. I guess these past couple of games we didn’t really come through in those situations.”
Atlanta was shutout for the 11th time this season, all since June 5 – a span of 92 games. Prior to that date, the club went 182 consecutive games without being shutout.
2. Fried labored, but was effective
It was a grind, but left-handed starting pitcher Max Fried had a solid outing as he allowed three runs on two hits with seven strikeouts and three walks over six innings.
The Dodgers scored their first run in the top of the third when Miguel Rojas walked, reached second on a Max Muncy groundout, stole third and scored on a wild pitch.
Fried held the Dodgers hitless through the first four innings but the Dodgers scored two runs on two hits in the top of the fifth.
“I felt like I could have made pitches,” Fried said. “Yamamoto made some really good pitches with runners in scoring position and was able to get out of some jams. Unfortunately I wasn’t really able to do that to match him. You know that you’re going up against a good team and frankly I just wasn’t doing the little things to keep the runs off the board and to try to be able to go out there and keep it at one run. It’s definitely frustrating.”
Fried struggled with command over the second and third innings as all three of his walks were in the two frames. In total, Fried threw 57 strikes and 41 balls.
“A lot of (my pitches) were in and out,” Fried said. “I had some good fastball command and then it just kind of left me for a little bit. I was able to dial it back in. I wasn’t really feeling the slider and then found it toward the end. The curveball was hit-and-miss. I had each one of my pitches at some point during the outing but it just wasn’t where they were clicking well together to be able to get out of some jams.”
3. Gunned down
In the bottom of the third, the Braves had their best scoring opportunity of the game. When Harris was thrown out at home on Soler’s aforementioned double, the Dodgers made a near-perfect relay from center field to home.
Soler’s double was 112 MPH off the bat and traveled 388 feet over Dodger center fielder Tommy Edman’s head. Edman fired the ball to second baseman Enrique Hernández and Hernández, from shallow center field, delivered a 93.6 MPH missile to catcher Will Smith who tagged Harris out at home just in time.
“He threw a bullet,” Harris said of Hernández’s throw. “Originally, the (double) that Murphy hit in the (second), I think it was like 108 (MPH) and it still hit the warning track for some reason. So I’m thinking when Soler hit it, I knew he hit it (well). I didn’t know for sure it was (going to) get down because of the way the wind has been playing the last couple of days. I had to make sure. They had a good relay and saved a run.”
The throw was the Dodgers’ fastest-tracked assist from an infielder under Statcast (2015).
“(Hernández) turned and made a really good throw,” Snitker said. “I didn’t think he was (going to) have a chance at getting Michael out. Especially since he was kind of squared up to the outfielder and he turned and made a perfect throw. Those bang-bang plays like that, if the ball is up the line just a little bit, you score. It (has to be) perfectly done and it was.”
4. A late-inning bummer
In the final two games of the series, the Dodgers scored 13 of their 18 runs in the seventh inning or later. Los Angeles put up a seven run ninth inning on Sunday and scored seven runs in the seventh inning Monday.
The Dodgers sent nine batters to the plate in the inning and it started with three walks in a row by right-handed reliever Daysbel Hernández to load the bases for Shohei Ohtani.
Snitker pulled Hernández in favor of left-handed reliever Aaron Bummer with one out. Bummer got Ohtani to hit a ground ball to Merrifield at second base but Merrifield threw home but Miguel Rojas beat the throw. Mookie Betts then hit a sacrifice fly, Teoscar Hernández tallied an RBI single and former Braves MVP Freddie Freeman hit an opposite-field, three-run home run.
“The game last night kind of got away from us like it did tonight,” Snitker said. “That’s a good club. You can’t make mistakes, you can’t walk guys. You can’t give them extra opportunities. They’re too deep.”
The Freeman home run snapped Bummer’s homerless streak at 46 innings. Both Daysbel Hernández and Bummer were charged with three earned runs.
Atlanta’s bullpen was responsible for 13 of the Dodgers’ 18 runs in the final two games of the series.
5. Nine runs on four hits
Though the Dodgers outscored the Braves by nine runs, the teams each tallied four hits. Atlanta pitchers issued seven walks and one hit batsman. It was the second time in the franchise’s modern era (since 1900) Braves pitchers combined to allow at least nine runs on four hits or fewer.
The first instance was on June 4, 2021, also against the Dodgers at Truist Park.
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