Atlanta Braves Can’t Recover From Early Mistakes, Drops Series To Giants

Atlanta Braves Committed Two Costly Errors While Their Bats Weren’t Consistent Enough To Drive In More Runs

The Atlanta Braves had trouble early in the game – the first 3 innings to be exact – that allowed the Giants to score 7 runs, which was more than enough for them to win the game. R.A. Dickey faced against Johnny Cueto and it was not an equal match-up.

Nick Markakis and Matt Kemp each hit back-to-back singles with 2 outs but that was all the Braves would do in those first 3 innings while Cueto served 6 strike outs! Giants’ Eduardo Nunez would get a single and reach 2nd thanks to one of those previously mentioned errors, this one by Dickey.

Dickey followed that with walks to both Brandon Belt and Buster Posey…loading the bases. It was a tough day behind the plate for Kurt Suzuki as well. A wild pitch (or passed ball — who can tell?) by Dickey allowed Nunez to score. Next a ground out by Brandon Crawford drove home Belt, who had advanced to 3rd because of the wild pitch. Giants up 2-nothing.

The next inning, the Giants continued the offense with a lead-off triple by Joe Panik and came home on a Gorkys Hernandez single. Hernandez would come home with Nunez single. Denard Span, who was walked an at-bat earlier, scored along with Nunez via Crawford, who singled to center.

In the 3rd inning, Cueto hit a sacrifice fly to score Panik to give the Giants their 7th run.

Braves Reset

After the 3 Inning Massacre, Dickey actually kept the Giants quiet in his final 3 innings, but it was too late.

More from Tomahawk Take

• Atlanta Braves 2012 Prospect Review: Joey Terdoslavich
• Braves News: Braves sign Fuentes, Andruw’s HOF candidacy, more
• The Weakest Braves Homers Since 2015
• Atlanta Braves Sign Joshua Fuentes to Minor League Deal
• Braves News: New Year’s Eve comes with several questions about the 2023 Braves

He kept them hit-less in the rest of his outing while striking out another (2 total).

Ender Inciarte hit a 2-out double off Cueto in the 5th but couldn’t score. Jace Peterson also went out to hit for Brandon Phillips who had left the game after fouling a ball off his knee.

In the top of the 6th, the Braves managed to gather together some offense. Markakis lead off with a single followed by a double from Kemp (Career double no. 300). That put 2 runners at 2nd and 3rd with nobody out.

2 quick runs, easy right? Nope.

After Matt Adams struck out, Suzuki grounded a ball that allowed Markakis to score their 1 and only run. Rio Ruiz struck out swinging to end the inning.

That would be it for Cueto who actually threw 106 pitches compared to Dickey’s pitch-count of 87. Cueto walked only 1 while striking out 8.

Final

Matt Wisler took over for the Braves and did a good job. Wisler went 2 innings and faced the minimum each time. He even lowered his ERA from 9.00 to 7.00, which is still high but it’s an notable improvement.

Former Braves, Cory Gearrin, would close the game out for the Giants. Dickey was rocked early but if the Braves didn’t commit those errors, the game could have been slightly different. He also walked 5 which added to the problem.

The Braves now head south for Memorial Day as they take on the Los Angeles Angels (26-27) -who just wrapped up their series with Miami.

Julio Teheran will face off against Ricky Nolasco. The game is expected to start at 9:07 PM (ET).

Next: Is This Why He's Still Here?

Teheran has been MUCH better on the road this season with a 2-0 record and 0.71 ERA. So maybe the trend continues? Hope so.