Braves Offense Sputters Again, Losing 2-1

The Braves scored one run again for the second straight night, but unfortunately the Dodgers scored two this time.

The Braves had four hits in the game. The first was a single by Omar Infante in the first, which was erased by a double play. Jason Heyward singled in the fourth and reached second on a walk by Alex Gonzalez, but the Dodgers got three straight outs. Infante singled again in the sixth and stole second with two outs, but was left there. The Braves’ best threat came in the seventh when Matt Diaz walked to lead off the inning and Melky Cabrera doubled with one out. David Ross grounded out to third to score Diaz, but Melky was left at second when Infante struck out to end the inning. That cut the lead to one. The Braves never reached base again.

The Dodgers had a ton of hits but couldn’t score a run. They broke the scoreless tie in the fourth on two straight singles and a double play that brought home a run. Their second run came in the seventh on a sac fly RBI by Andre Ethier, which proved to be the deciding run.

Derek Lowe gave up ten hits in six innings but all were singles. He somehow managed to allow just one run due in part to just one walk and he struck out four. Those types of outings happen with sinkerballers and it’s made even odder by the fact that Lowe induced 12 grounders to one fly ball. So while he wasn’t sharp in creating efficient innings and was constantly in the stretch, his sinker still worked well.

Jonny Venters worked the seventh and gave up two singles and the second run. It’s the first run he has allowed since July 30. He also struck out two. Kyle Farnsworth struck out two in a scoreless eighth. Takashi Saito did the same in the ninth.

The Braves did their usual thing with runners on base, not moving them around and driving them in and whatnot. They reached base eight times in the game, which is about the usual number these days. Infante recorded two singles again. Otherwise there isn’t much to say. Ted Lilly pitched six shutout innings on three hits for the Dodgers.

The Phillies got another great performance from Roy Halladay and beat the Mets, inching back to two games behind the Braves.