Atlanta Braves fail to gain on Mets vs. Rockies

This is a tough part of the season for the Atlanta Braves as they have one eye on the Mets and one eye on the team they are supposed to be focused on beating.

Mercifully, the Atlanta Braves had a day off on Monday.  It gave the team a chance to reset themselves after two exacerbating losses in St. Louis… games in which they held late leads.

Tuesday brought the Colorado Rockies back into Truist Park as the home team sought to continue their domination of the mile-high team.

Old friend(?) Jose Urena started for the visitors as Atlanta countered with staff leader Max Fried.  Mercifully enough, Ronald Acuna Jr. was held out again tonight to continue resting his sore, surgically-repaired knee.

Of course, Urena might have plunked him there had the chance become available.

Early Smoke, Little Fire

The Braves entered this contest as overwhelming favorites in the betting world, which just goes to show why sports betting is such a risky proposition.

That said, Atlanta had its chances early and often.

After a quick three-groundout top of the 1st, the Braves loaded the bases with one out against Urena… threatening to blow him out early.  Unfortunately, strikeouts to Travis d’Arnaud and Eddie Rosario stifled the threat with nary a dent to the scoreboard.

The next inning, Atlanta did strike first thanks to a 2-out Dansby Swanson double that knocked in Vaughn Grissom (who else?).  1-0 Braves.

Rosario redeemed himself in the 3rd by doubling home Austin Riley — who had previously doubled himself.

Max Effort

That 2-0 lead seemed fairly large, but Max Fried did not have his best stuff.  The fastball seemed off on timing much of the night, and Colorado eventually took advantage.

One advantage was gained, though, as Michael Harris turned a single into a triple with a rare miss on a diving catch attempt in centerfield.  The ball went all the way to the wall.

A single and double later, the game was tied after 4 innings.

The next inning saw more of a rocky road for Fried thanks to a pair of singles and a fielding error — by Fried himself.

Three ground ball outs ensued, but a run nonetheless scored in the process.  It was close, but Fried couldn’t escape that base-loaded/none out situation.

Fried’s final line:  5 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs (2 earned) over 91 pitches.  His ERA stands at 2.56.

Bullpen Parade

With both starters out after the 5th inning, the bullpens ruled the day afterward.

Colorado’s Lawrence, Estevez, and Bard combined to go 4 scoreless innings.  Atlanta’s Jackson, Matzek, Yates, and Lee did likewise.

The problem?  Atlanta was a run short… and remained that way as they only mustered 1 hit after Urena left the game.

So despite the fact that the Mets fell to the Dodgers… the Atlanta Braves could not capitalize on their loss.  It’s just their 2nd losing streak of 3+ games on the year.

We’ll do it again on Wednesday evening with Kyle Wright giving it a go.  7:20PM.