The Atlanta Braves fall short to the Milwaukee Brewers after a wild day of trades.
It was certainly an exciting day for the Atlanta Braves. One of the wildest and craziest deadlines arguably ever saw the Braves add Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall, Jorge Soler, and Richard Rodríguez.
They carried that excitement over into Friday night’s game with a quick start against Brewers starter Corbin Burnes.
In the first inning, Joc Pederson scored on an RBI single from Freddie Freeman. Austin Riley would keep up his recent hot streak by hitting another home run to give the Braves an early 3-0 lead.
.@austinriley1308 is hotter than the sun 😱#ForTheA pic.twitter.com/FfrzZcTyvb
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 30, 2021
Shoutout to Chip Caray for the great call. “And that’s for you Hank Aaron!”
Stephen Vogt would single home Dansby Swanson to close out the scoring for the first. Giving the Braves a 4-0 lead over Burnes for Touki Toussaint.
Toussaint pitched fine in the first two innings before falling apart in the third. Omar Narváez would hit a sacrifice fly to score Kolten Wong to get the Brewers on the board.
The big blow of the inning was the three-run home run from Avisaíl García. To his credit, Toussaint did fight out of the third with the score tied.
However, the fourth inning was more of the same. Wong would double home Jackie Bradley Jr to give the Brewers the 5-4 lead. Willy Adames would then make it a 7-4 game with a two-run blast of his own.
Sean Newcomb would come on in relief and give up a run on a bases loaded single. This would also be the end of the inning thanks from a great throw by Duvall to nail the second runner at the plate. This helped the Braves escape only down 8-4.
Duvall would grab his first RBI back in a Braves uniform, with an RBI single to score Freeman. The score was cut to 8-5 and Duvall was making a strong impression in his first game back with the Braves.
This also chased Burnes out of the game in the fifth, which is not something most could have predicted coming into today’s game.
Edgar Santana and Josh Tomlin would combine to throw three scoreless innings, but the Braves could not capitalize and get any closer.
Shane Greene would give up a solo shot to Eduardo Escobar in the ninth inning that pushed the Brewers lead back to four.
Brent Suter would enter for the Brewers in the bottom of the ninth and strike out the side to earn the victory for the Brewers.
Notes and Other News
The Braves offense looked solid tonight against one of the better starters in baseball. Burnes came into tonight with a 2.12 ERA, 1.82 xERA, 1.35 FIP, and 2.18 xFIP. Add in the two reinforcements coming to the Braves offense soon and this can be a dangerous lineup.
Freddie Freeman continues his campaign for July player of the month. Coming into tonight, he was hitting .371/.467/.607 with six home runs, twenty runs, fourteen RBIs, a .450 wOBA, and a 182 wRC+. He had another solid night going one for three with a walk, two runs, and an RBI.
Austin Riley might try to steal the award from Freddie. Riley in July was hitting .318/.410/.682 eight home runs, thirteen runs, twenty-three RBIs, a .449 wOBA, and a 181 wRC+. Riley added a home run, walk, and two RBIs tonight that will help close the gap on his teammate.
Another reinforcement could be on the way soon that did not come by way of trade. Travis d’Arnaud began a rehab assignment in Gwinnett tonight. If he can return in the next couple weeks, it will only help lengthen this Braves lineup.
All in all, tonight was another tough loss. However, maybe the trade acquisitions will help turn this team around. They should all be with the team by the end of the weekend, excluding Rosario who is currently on the injured list.
It will be another tough one tomorrow as the Braves will face Brandon Woodruff. The Braves will send young Kyle Muller to the mound who has been impressive early.
The Braves have alternated wins and losses since the All-Star break, so it is their turn to grab a win tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow starts a long winning streak.