Braves Recap: Morton struggles as Freddie Freeman powers Dodgers to win over Braves

The Atlanta Braves got into a back and forth affair with the Dodgers on Monday evening. Despite getting an early lead, Charlie Morton could not hold it and big games from Freddie Freeman and JD Martinez doomed the Braves as they fell by the score of 8-6.

After a clean first inning from Charlie Morton to start the game, the Brave jumped all over Gavin Stone in the bottom half of the inning. As is customary, Ronald Acuna Jr. led the game off with a double and a couple batters later, Sean Murphy would drive him home with an RBI single to give the Braves an early 1-0 lead.

Austin Riley would draw a walk to set the stage for known Dodger killer Eddie Rosario to come to the plate. It is safe to say that Eddie did not disappoint as he lined a three-run homer to right to give the Braves a quick 4-0 lead over the Dodgers. That homer was very similar to the one that Walker Buehler is probably still having nightmares about.

Things got decidedly less fun in the second and fourth innings for Charlie Morton, He would give up a solo homer to JD Martinez and then the Dodgers would put up a couple of runs in the fourth on an RBI groundout that scored Freddie Freeman and then a RBI triple that found its way to the right field corner and just like that, it was a 4-3 game.

As it turns out, it was not Charlie Morton's night as his struggles continued and in the fifth inning, he was left in to face Freddie Freeman with a couple of runners on and Freddie punished that decision with a three run homer that made it over the wall and the Dodgers took the lead.

The Braves would get a run back thanks to some savvy baserunning from Ronald Acuna Jr. who stole third base on a walk where he was advancing to second. Ronald saw that Max Muncy was not paying attention after the walk and he bamboozled the Dodgers' infield when he touched second and immediately took off for the third. He would score on a force out to make it a 6-5 game.

AJ Minter would later give up a run scoring single to Mookie Betts in the sixth and the Braves entered the final third of the game down a pair of runs. Minter would then give up JD Martinez's second home run of the game to make it an 8-5 in the seventh and the Braves were in a real situation.

The Braves would get a run back in the eighth on a RBI double from Marcell Ozuna, but the Braves entered the ninth inning down two runs. Down to their final three outs, the Braves sadly went quietly.