[ad_1]
One night, they scored 11 runs, and the next night, not so much. The Braves lost game two of their series with the Cleveland Guardians 6-0 on Saturday night.
On Friday, the Braves managed to get hits from all over the lineup, including the bottom third. Michael Harris II, who missed Saturday’s game for paternity reasons, had two hits, including a home run and two RBI. Mauricio Dubon had a single and a double, and Dom Smith, who Braves manager Walt Weiss routinely calls a “professional hitter,” had a three-hit game and two RBI.
“Dom’s a gem. He’s a wonderful person and a great teammate. I used to hate to see him get in the box in a big spot because I knew it was going to be a tough out,” Weiss said. “He’s been awesome for us.”
Well, Smith only batted once in this game, and that was as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning. He couldn’t help the team tonight. After the game, Weiss was frank about his team’s lack of offense. “Offensively, we couldn’t get anything going against Messick,” he said.
Messick, the Guardians starter, went 6.2 innings with five strikeouts while giving up four hits and two walks. He was good, Weiss thought he was better than that. “He’s not just a crafty lefty,” Weiss said.
Saturday night was the second start of the season for Braves left-hander Martin Perez. Three batters into the game, the Braves were down 1-0 following an 0-2 count home run from Guardians All-Star third baseman Jose Ramirez. The trouble did not stop there. The Guardians had bases loaded with Steven Kwan at the plate following a couple of hits and a walk. Perez got Kwan to ground out to Albies at second. Crisis averted.
The Braves had their first real chance to get to Guardians starter Parker Messick and regain the lead in the third inning. Matt Olson, fresh off a 2-RBI night on Friday, came to the plate with two runners on and two outs and struck out.
Perez was up to 80 pitches after five innings, closing with a 4-6-3 double-play to end the inning. The bottom of the Braves’ starting rotation needed to carry a bit of the load on Saturday night with six relievers having been used the previous night, and Perez (five innings, one earned run, two strikeouts, and two walks) did just that.
On his second start, Perez said he felt good. “I think today was a good game. I was attacking the strike zone,” he said. “I’m going to continue doing my job.”
That bullpen, specifically Joel Payamps, allowed another earned run that gave Cleveland a 2-0 lead through six innings. Aaron Bummer finished that inning, and Osvaldo Bido came on in the seventh. Both kept the Guardians from adding to the Braves’ deficit until Chase DeLauter drove in another run with a double off the right field wall to put his team ahead 3-0. The Guardians managed another run in the ninth when Braves catcher Jonah Heim made an errant throw to third that allowed Kwan to score. Pinch-hitter Daniel Schneemann drove in two runs off of Tyler Kinley to give the Guardians a 6-0 advantage.
Straight Sellouts: Consecutive nights of 40,000-plus fans in attendance on Friday and Saturday gave the Braves consecutive sellouts.
Related
[ad_2]
Source link
