Kyle Muller wasn’t at his best through his short outing, and the Braves lost to the Padres 3-2 in Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader at Truist Park. By rule, the game lasted seven innings.
In his return to the rotation, Muller allowed one run on two hits over four innings, though he labored. Muller was a bit erratic, throwing 50 strikes on 87 pitches, but he at least prevented the game from getting away from him. The one run was scored in the fourth, when Jurickson Profar doubled, advanced on a wild pitch and reached home on Ha-Seong Kim’s sacrifice fly.
“Effectively wild,” manager Brian Snitker said of Muller’s performance. “That’s a lot of pitches in four innings. If it’s going to take you about 90 pitches to get through four innings, that’s probably going to be the end of the day most times.”
When informed Snitker used the “effectively wild” description, Muller said he agreed. The lefty called his command “terrible.”
“My command definitely wasn’t there,” Muller said. “I owe (catcher) Kevan (Smith) a couple steaks and a couple drinks after tonight. I was wearing him out. It was a hot day, too. So shoutout to him for putting up with me the whole game. I couldn’t find that groove to keep executing pitches and hit some spots. On the pitching side of things, it wasn’t a good performance. But in terms of damage control, I was pleased with that because it easily could’ve gotten out of hand a couple times.”
Snitker summoned Shane Greene for the fifth inning. Greene struck out opposing pitcher Chris Paddack to begin his outing but followed with a five-pitch walk to Tommy Pham. Fernando Tatis then belted a two-run homer – his first against the Braves – for a 3-0 lead.
The Braves were stifled by Paddack, a promising young starter who’s been plagued by inconsistency this season. Paddack pitched to contact, striking out only one, and held the Braves to three hits over five innings.
“He was mixing his change-up in well,” Snitker said of Paddack. “He has a good arm, too. He can reach back and get a little more. We just had a hard time getting anything going with him.”
First baseman Freddie Freeman singled and second baseman Ozzie Albies’ doubled against lefty Drew Pomeranz in the sixth. Freeman scored on a passed ball, and Albies scored on third baseman Austin Riley’s sacrifice fly to trim San Diego’s lead to one.
Former Braves closer Mark Melancon, who signed with the Padres last winter, pitched a clean seventh for his 28th save.
The second game was suspended due to rain in the fifth inning.
