SAN FRANCISCO — The Braves had won the first three games of this four-game series. In the finale, the Giants, needing a victory, sent out one of their two aces. San Francisco was playing to avoid the rare sweep in a four-game set.
Sometimes, it is as simple as that.
The Braves lost Thursday’s game at Oracle Park 6-0, as they were unable to complete the sweep. Still, the Braves came away feeling good about their standing after winning three games here.
Five observations:
1. Go back to Sunday in Colorado. How did you feel about this team then? That was a disaster.
The Braves vowed to move on from it.
They delivered.
“We had probably our lowest point of the year and followed that up with three in a row,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I think that’s good. You hate to lose every game this time of year. Every game’s important, every game’s big. They’re all big and tough losses.”
The Braves hold the National League’s third wild-card spot, and are at least two games ahead of everyone else. And to put this into context: The Giants entered this series 1-1/2 games behind the Braves for that final postseason berth, but are now 3-1/2 out.
But, yes, what Snitker said is true. The Braves need to get on a roll. This series was a start. But there have been a lot of those – encouraging three-day stretches – this season. They must follow it up against the Angels in Anaheim.
Still, the Braves should feel great about how they responded to a brutal series loss in Colorado.
“I think it says a lot about our team,” Jorge Soler said through interpreter Franco García. “We go out every day, we go out to fight and it just talks a lot about our attitude – going out there to win.”
2. This game boiled down to this:
Giants starting pitcher Logan Webb dominated, which left Max Fried with a miniature margin for error.
“He’s really good,” Snitker said of Webb. “And you could tell, when he came out, he was on a mission. He was gonna give their bullpen a break, and he did. He was efficient. Very, very competitive guy with really good stuff. … He’s a tough ride.”
Webb threw 7-2/3 scoreless innings. The Braves collected four hits and walked once. They struck out seven times against Webb.
3. In the second inning, the Giants scored twice off Fried, who’s still searching for his best form.
One of those runs scored on a bunt with the bases loaded. Fried ran up toward home plate to field the bunt and, with his glove, flipped it to catcher Travis d’Arnaud – who dropped it. It likely would’ve been an out had d’Arnaud caught it. But Fried later wondered if he could’ve simply grabbed the ball and tagged home himself because the bunt was close enough to the plate.
Fried pitched into the sixth. He allowed three runs on five hits. He issued three walks. He wasn’t terribly crisp.
“Especially going up against a really good pitcher, you know that runs are gonna be at a premium,” Fried said. “Definitely frustrated that I put us in a hole early.”
For Fried, this part of the season is about nothing else except doing the job. It doesn’t matter, he said, how he feels.
“We need to win, and every time that we go out there, we’re looking to win that game,” he said. “Unfortunately, I don’t feel like I was able to be sharp enough to bring what we needed to, to put us in that position today. Definitely gonna be working, and come next week, hopefully things are sharper.”
4. Soler on Thursday had an MRI that revealed a mild strain of his left hamstring. He’s day-to-day.
This seems like encouraging news, though you never know how quickly hamstring injuries will heal.
Could Soler play this weekend?
“I’m feeling pretty good right now,” Soler said. “(Friday) I’m not playing. But I don’t know. I’m not sure if I’ll play in the following two days.”
5. The Braves will start Spencer Schwellenbach on Friday, Chris Sale on Saturday and Charlie Morton on Sunday against the Angels. They cannot look past this weekend, but the rest of us can begin getting excited about next week.
The Braves will host the Phillies from Tuesday through Thursday. It sounds like the Braves will bring Reynaldo López off the injured list to start Tuesday. They can go with Fried on Wednesday and Sale on Thursday, if they so choose. This would mean pushing back Schwellenbach, but it would be a way for the Braves to start both Sale and Fried against the first-place Phillies.
The Braves trailed the Phillies by 6-1/2 games after its loss, pending Philadelphia’s game against Washington.
Stat to know
8 - The Braves were shut out for the eighth time this season. Entering Thursday, the Nationals and White Sox had both been shut out 13 times – the most in baseball.
Quotable
“(Fried) still fighting like heck to kind of find himself and get in a rhythm and things like that. But I just think Logan Webb kind of shut us down all day.” – Snitker
Up next
The Braves will face Angels right-hander José Soriano in Friday’s series opener. The game begins at 9:38 p.m.
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