Atlanta Braves comeback falls short in NLDS Game 1 loss to Brewers

1. Let’s talk about that top of the 1st inning for the Atlanta Braves.

We heard all week about the dominance of Milwaukee starter Corbin Burnes, the league’s ERA champion and a Cy Young finalist.

So when Jorge Soler and Freddie Freeman coupled together two terrific, lengthy at-bats resulting in walks – putting the Braves in a shockingly advantageous situation versus Milwaukee’s best –  it felt big.

Real big.

First and third with no one out, and Burnes, in his first inning of the first postseason game on his home field, cornered – literally and figuratively.

At that point, his pitch count had already surpassed 20, and he was having difficulty finding strikes.

Enter Ozzie Albies, the Atlanta Braves’ dynamite – but often overly aggressive – second baseman.

Behind Albies, two more of the Braves’ biggest run producers.

You could not have scripted the beginning of a game any better.

Albies, facing a 1-0 count after two batters ahead of him had reached via walk, grounded a cutter right to Tellez, who made an impact with his bat, as well as his glove.

Soler broke for home, and was gunned down at the plate on the Tellez throw. Double play.

From first-and-third with no outs to runner at second with two outs, all on one pitch.

If it felt as though there was a collective groan amongst Braves Nation following the double play, there was.

You hate to say a game is “over” that early, but Atlanta’s inability to cash in on a supremely favorable situation felt like it would come back to haunt them, and it did.

The lack of scoring in the first was only magnified by the game’s eventual 2-1 final score.

October baseball is always about “what ifs”, and there certainly is reason to discuss how the game could’ve gone down a drastically different path had Corbin Burnes not been let off the hook in the first.