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Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: 2018 games results with the Dodgers

By Alan Carpenter

ATLANTA, GA - JULY 28: Third baseman Johan Camargo #17 of the Atlanta Braves runs to third base after hitting a solo home run in the seventh inning during the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at SunTrust Park on July 28, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - JULY 28: Third baseman Johan Camargo #17 of the Atlanta Braves runs to third base after hitting a solo home run in the seventh inning during the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at SunTrust Park on July 28, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GA – JULY 26: Pitcher Rich Hill #44 of the Los Angeles Dodgers throws a ptich in the seventh inning during the game against the Atlanta Braves at SunTrust Park on July 26, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – JULY 26: Pitcher Rich Hill #44 of the Los Angeles Dodgers throws a ptich in the seventh inning during the game against the Atlanta Braves at SunTrust Park on July 26, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) /

The Braves have played LA 7 times in 2018.  Let’s review how these games went down as we look forward to Thursday.

The Atlanta Braves dropped 5 out of the season’s 7 contests with the Dodgers – the reason that the Braves needed an outright better season record in order to win any tie-breaker that might have happened between the clubs this week…. and that didn’t happen, leading to a Dodger home-field advantage this week.

As you can then imagine, some of these games weren’t especially pretty, but circumstances have changed with the playoffs upon us.  Let’s dig in and see why Atlanta was routed then and whether there are reasons to hope for better results this weekend.

Due to my tendency to be long-winded, I will break this into multiple posts.  I’ll work backward in the count, though, starting with the games decided in July – in Atlanta.

July 26, 8-2 Dodgers

  • VENUE:  SUNTRUST PARK
  • TIME/DAY:  THURSDAY, 7:35PM
  • STARTERS:
    • ANIBAL SANCHEZ
    • RICH HILL

Coming out of the All-Star break, the Dodgers had taken 2 of 3 from Milwaukee and then lost 2 of 3 to the Phillies.

Of significant note, they were also carrying a new player for these games:  Manny Machado, who was acquired just prior to the start of the Milwaukee series.

Their offense was doing okay, having scored 6, 2, 11, 7, 4, and 3 runs in those games.  Machado himself started out fairly hot with 5 hits in the 1st 3 games, but then was shut down in the Philly series with just 2 safeties in 14 tries.

For 4 innings, neither team scored this night.  Sanchez had allowed just 1 hit in facing 1 above the minimum (with a walk/double play thrown in).

Unfortunately, the Braves only managed one hit themselves against Hill, and they truly had no answer for him that night.  Hill went 7 complete innings, walking 1 and yielding 3 hits while striking out 8 to lower his ERA to 3.82 over 95 pitches.

In the 5th, Sanchez became solvable by the LA bats:

  • Matt Kemp walked
  • Cody Bellinger singled, and a Charlie Culberson error moved both runners an additional base.  Now we’re in the soup.
  • Chris Taylor ground out, scoring Kemp
  • Alex Verdugo singled, scoring Bellinger
  • a sacrifice bunt (Hill) and popout ended the inning;  Dodgers up 2-0.

In the 6th, Sanchez gave up a lead-off homer to Machado and then got the rest despite a single and overturned out replay review at 2nd base.  If I recall correctly, we in Braves Country had some words about that incident.

Sanchez came out again in the 7th inning.  After a strikeout, 2 singles followed, but an Albies error in between put the Dodgers into scoring position; the latter hit cashed that opportunity for a 4-0 lead… and the end of the night for Sanchez.

Sam Freeman allowed another run to score in facing 3 batters:  double, inten. walk, K, single.

Luke Jackson got the 8th:  Walk, single, deep CF lineout, HBP.  Then a fielder’s choice with error (Culberson again) scored 2.  Evan Phillips cleaned up the mess and then had a good 9th.

The Braves’ scoring came in the 8th with a single (Michael Reed) and homer (Ronald Acuna) against Daniel Hudson.

Pedro Baez finished up:  1 inning, 1 hit, 1 strikeout.  No drama.

  • TAKEAWAYS
    • Sanchez will get to face this club this week, but won’t be allowed to get this far behind – whether it’s his fault or that of his fielders.
    • The 3 errors in this game were highly unusual.  Culberson had 2 of his 5 for the year in this game.  Having Swanson back is thus very important… and frankly, I’ll be surprised if it happens… oh wait, here’s an update on that:

That’s… not good.  Even if the Braves can hide Culberson for 1 game defensively, can you imagine doing so for 3+ games?  Not a good option.

Two other players that won’t be factors:

  • Luke Jackson shouldn’t make the post-season roster.
  • Daniel Hudson (Dodger bullpen) is done for the year.
  • ABOUT RICH HILL
    • This was Hill’s only appearance vs. Atlanta and it ranks as one of his 2 best outings of the year (probably the best since Sunday’s outing vs. SF on the season’s last day probably shouldn’t count).
    • Hill had 5 starts allowing no earned runs and going 6+ innings.  4 starts with 1 earned run.
    • He had 8 starts allowing 4+ runs.
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