Atlanta Braves rally into extra innings; could not complete comeback

The Atlanta Braves  tied the game in the 8th and had multiple opportunities to walk-off but couldn’t cash in on it as a late home-run by the Cardinals in the 14th inning handed the Braves their 4th straight loss.

This game was both stressful and disappointing. R.A. Dickey took the mound for the Atlanta Braves, and really only had one goal: eat innings for the bullpen. The ‘pen has been exhausted the last few days as no Braves starter have gone more than 5 innings since Dickey’s last start on Tuesday.

Turns out the game was a total opposite of what needed to be done. Not all of it was Dickey’s fault, because even though he gave up 4 runs, he did go 6 innings.  More on that in a bit.

Dickey gave the Cardinals an early run with a solo home-run in the 1st by Matt Carpenter. The Braves’ first hit came in the 1st via Ender Inciarte, however, that would be the Braves’ ONLY hit for the next 5 innings.

3rd Inning Trail

In the 3rd, Dickey gave up a lead off home-run to Tommy Pham to right field. Back-to-back doubles by Kolten Wong and Randal Grichuk scored another run.

After a ground out by Carpenter, Jedd Gyorko hit another double to score Grichuk. A wild pitch and walk later, Dickey would manage to finish the inning with a ground out.

Slow Baseball For A Bit

Michael Wacha was dealing for the Cardinals for most of the game, ending each of the first 5 innings on a strikeout. He struck out Nick Markakis (and Freddie Freeman) in the first, Dansby Swanson in the 2nd, Adonis Garcia in the 3rd, Markakis again in the 4th before getting Swanson again in the 5th.

In the top of the 5th inning, Markakis showed some of his defensive skills, laying out for a nice catch to rob Yadier Molina of a hit. He would make another nice play in the 8th, taking a hit away from Carpenter. He’s been making nice plays all season and so has Matt Kemp and Inciarte. At least 1 of them better win a(nother) Gold Glove this year.

Braves Refueled

In the 6th, the Braves started their comeback rally with 4 consecutive hits off of Wacha.

Ender Inciarte lined a single down the middle before Adonis Garcia made a surprisingly successful bunt single. Freddie Freeman then launched a double to deep left-center to score the Braves 1st run of the game. Joining in the fun, Matt Kemp singled to center to drive in another run.

However, Markakis would ground into a double-play – 1 of the 5 that the Braves would hit into today – to end the inning.

In the 7th inning, Swanson singled in Jace Peterson to score another run and Atlanta would turn to the bullpen to finish the game. Peterson hit into a fielder’s choice, stole 2nd and safely reached 3rd on a throwing error by Molina.

In the 8th, Freddie Freeman came up to face Cardinals’ Brett Cecil, who Freeman had a .333 BA and a homer against. On a 1-1 count with 2 outs, Freeman drilled a home-run to left center to tie the game.

https://twitter.com/Braves/status/861310633064763394

Extra Sunday Baseball

In the 9th, Jim Johnson and Trevor Rosenthal went on the mound for the Braves and Cardinals and each did their job well.

Johnson got Aledmys Diaz to line out, Magneuris Sierra to ground out, and walked Pham before striking out Matt Adams. Rosenthal faced the minimum, striking out Kurt Suzuki and Peterson and the getting Swanson to ground one.

The Braves had multiple chances to win the game but ended up stranding 7 runners.

In the 10th, Brandon Phillips, hitting for Ian Krol who pitched the minimum, reached on an infield single and eventually moved to 3rd on sacrifice hits but couldn’t come up with the run after Kemp struck out.

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The 11th inning seemed like the big one for the Braves as the bases were loaded after Markakis singled, and Peterson and Tyler Flowers were walked.

Inciarte almost won the game for Atlanta after a 2-out ground ball where he nearly beat Seung-hwan Oh to the bag. The Braves would challenge but the call stood after replay showed the pitcher may have stepped on the base just before Inciarte, or at least at the same time as him.

Either way, it was close enough that the umpires could not change the result.  Literally, the game’s outcome came down to less than a tenth of a second on that play.

The 12th inning was another close chance for the Braves to end the game as Garcia singled and Freeman reached on an error by Carpenter, putting 2 runners on board with no outs.

However, Kemp grounded into one of those aforementioned double plays. Suzuki would strike out, 2 at-bats later to end the inning.

Game Over

In the 14th inning, Josh Collmenter entered the game as the only pitcher left in the Braves bullpen.

Tommy Pham, in his first week back in the big leagues, added another reason to celebrate. After a fielding error by Jace Peterson on what should have been a routine ground out, Pham launched a homer to left to give the Cardinals the 6-4 lead. After that, it seemed like all hopes were gone.

Even though the objective was to avoid overusing the bullpen, the rest of the Braves bullpen had been amazing today. Sam Freeman, Arodys Vizcaino, Ian Krol, and Jose Ramirez each faced the minimum.  Vizcaino and Ramirez struck out 2 apiece in their efforts.

Jim Johnson, Eric O’Flaherty, and Jason Motte also did their part in keeping the Cardinals from scoring. Good thing the Braves don’t play tomorrow, the bullpen really needs the rest and that likely applies to the rest of the team.

I didn’t understand why the Braves went with Julio Teheran to pinch hit, with nobody on and 2 outs. If Swanson didn’t ground into the double-play, than I get having Teheran hit a sac-bunt but that wasn’t the situation.

With 2 outs, Motte could have batted with the same result (Teheran struck out), and then he could’ve pitch again. Instead Collmenter was called to the mound, and leaves the second-guessing of whether things could’ve been different.

Next: This Guy Did Good For The Braves In This Game, Read About Him

This has been a long, disappointing week for the Braves. Hopefully, with the off day tomorrow, the Braves can re-charge before they head to Houston for the start of a long week on the road.