Austin Riley and the rest of the Braves had a great night at the plate. The other side was a completely different story.
From the first half to the last, the Atlanta Braves staff was completely overwhelmed by it Arizona Diamondbacks The Braves also lost 16-13 slugfest to open a three-game series in Cobb County.
All the way back in the first half of this, we got our first signs that maybe this is going to be weird. Corbin Carroll brought Arizona’s first run of the game with a triple that bounced close to the plate and managed to reach the field. The second inning came out wrong and just like that, the Braves went into the first half down by a pair of runs. Perhaps the only thing we expected to see tonight was Atlanta getting off to a fast start, as they almost immediately wiped out Arizona’s lead and also put a small gap between themselves and the Diamondbacks.
The Braves started the first half with a double-double-double-double sequence, with Sean Murphy’s double in that sequence. That made it 4-2 Atlanta. It was reasonable to expect Bryce Elder and Atlanta’s defense to settle down after getting the lead in such sure fashion. Instead, this was just the beginning of Cobb County’s fool’s journey.
Arizona responded with five runs in the bottom of the second. That’s right – they hit the Braves with a reverse ol’ Uno card. They popped out of the frame with a home run by Emmanuel Rivera and then went on a single–sacrifice punt–double-Record runs on a wild pitch and a serve error-bachelor. Yes, you read correctly. Corbin Carroll was again at the center of the action on the ball, which bounced into the home plate circle.
This time, Sean Murphy was unable to block the third off Bryce Elder and then accidentally exacerbated the problem on a throw to first base. This allowed Kettlemart to easily score from third to make it 6-5 and then Christian Walker added an RBI single to Carroll’s plate from third in order to make it 7-5. Fortunately, the scoring ended there and Bryce Elder got the first two outs of the third before getting off to his second consecutive disappointing start. The Atlanta All-Star team is still looking to find a way back.
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Michael Tonkin received the ball in relief, and while he’s usually been reliable as an all-inning reliever so far this season, he’s also had a nightmare on the mound this season. He got through the remainder of the third inning and then had two outs in the fourth before giving up a leadoff shot to Christian Walker to make it 8-5 Arizona. At this point, it became apparent that if the Braves were going to get a shot at this one, the Bats were going to have to deliver some serious strikes.
Fortunately, the Atlanta offense was capable and up to the task of matching Arizona’s hit on this offense. The Braves got to work in the fourth half and got one run thanks to a single by Orlando Arcia and a double by substitute Kevin Pillar. The next rally came with two outs, which is when Ozzy Albis walked over to put two runners down for Austin Riley. Riley made his way to the full count and then golfed across the short fence into left field to The Braves again put the lead at 9-8. We were officially in This Wilderness and this was only our fourth ride!
Once again, the Braves got the lead and put some space between themselves and Arizona on this one. He walked Shaun Murphy to lead the Fifth Atlanta and then replaced Orlando Arcia Two-run shots to make the Braves 11-8. Surely that means Atlanta’s playing staff will finally get to the court and restore order from here on out, right?
mistake! Remember when I said Michael Tonkin ended up having a rough day? This is where that comes into play. Alec Thomas got a leadoff single, then Ketel Mart made matters worse with a double to put the two runners in scoring position with just one run. That brought the dangerous Corbin Carroll to the plate and once again, Carroll wreaked havoc for the Braves on his way to first base. Carroll hit last The guard is in the home plate circle and this time, neither Matt Olson nor Michael Tonkin could get him out of first base. The RBI single made it 11–9, and Tonkin then left the game, and it was up to Ben Heller to keep Tonkin’s clean streak. Quite obviously that didn’t happen, as Heller promptly delivered an unsinkable sinker in front of Christian Walker and the Diamondbacks were once again in the lead once the ball was landed.
The good news for Atlanta was that Christian Walker wasn’t the only hitter who brought his power hit to the field for this one. Ronald Acuna Jr. went on a single, stole second, and was eventually joined by Austin Riley after Riley went on to revive him by smashing a single over the fence in center field. Homer the second of the night and his seventh RBI of the game. The Braves were once again in the lead and showed incredible resilience to continue responding to the Diamondbacks’ barrage of offense. The Atlanta crew now had to hold on to the weak lead.
Sadly, the poor shooting error from tonight’s game has become contagious. Joe Jimenez nearly hit a negative run in the seventh, then the Diamondbacks were able to walk off Kirby Yates via an RBI single off Dominic Canzone to tie the game at 13 apiece. You could argue that Yates was lucky to only give up one run, as the Diamondbacks were stealing bases at will while he was there and both runners reached base because of a walk and hit after hit. Even though the game was tied, there was still some hope that the Braves could fight their way into the lead as long as things stayed at 13 runs for both teams.
Then, Raisel Iglesias entered the game and added to the collection of foul streamers from tonight’s Atlanta pitching staff. It also didn’t help that the third error of the night was a costly one for the Braves, as Matt Olson’s fielding error (the Braves’ third of the night, mind you) put two runners up with no one out. Geraldo Berdromo delivered Haymaker with an RBI double and then lined Ketel Marte up the middle to make it 16-13 in favor of the Diamondbacks. Raisel Iglesias struck out Corbin Carroll but his night ended there and that was the cherry on top of a tart sundae for the Atlanta stadium staff.
Kevin Ginkel entered Arizona in the bottom of the ninth inning and hit to the side to end the game and defeat the Braves for their first three-game winning streak since May. The lineup did its job, as 13 runs should be more than enough for any team to win on any given night. It was a very different story on the mound and on the field—especially on the field since all three of the Braves’ fouls came from that part of the field. Kevin Pillar deserves to be treated to a delicious steak dinner after his performance on the field tonight.
As the title states, it was a full-on horror show for the defense and pitching staff in Atlanta on one of those nights that many players would like to forget. The good news is that all of this can be forgotten if all goes well tomorrow night, so we tuned in at 7:20 p.m. EST to see if the Braves can pick up their uncharacteristic losing streak quickly.
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