Atlanta Braves’ offense sputters, Dansby Swanson’s error, Brian Snitker gets tossed, late HR in 2-1 loss to Angels

The Atlanta Braves lost to the Los Angeles Angels 2-1 on Wednesday night. What went wrong for Atlanta?

The Atlanta Braves took on the Los Angeles Angels Wednesday evening, looking to get the bad taste of Tuesday’s loss out of their mouths. If you’ll recall, Tuesday’s loss featured a 3rd inning in which errors and shaky pitching from Bartolo Colon led to a nine-run inning for the Angels.

It was hard to watch. Wednesday had to be better, right? Well, Wednesday provided a new kind of torture. It was a rather quiet affair, with each team churning out just six hits.

The Braves got on the scoreboard first.

Matt Kemp‘s 2nd inning homer gave the Braves a 1-0 lead. It was the 250th home run of Kemp’s career. According to David O’Brien of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he’s the 18th active player with 250 or more home runs.

It’s an impressive accomplishment for the slugging left fielder. Kemp later singled in the top of ninth inning. He was the only Brave that recorded a multi-hit game. Kemp is batting .341/.379/.593 with 10 home runs on the season. Not much was expected from him when he was acquired from the San Diego Padres last season. He’s exceeded all expectations and has become a key cog in Atlanta’s lineup.

Atlanta’s 1-0 lead would last until the bottom of 7th inning. Although, in between all that, Braves manager Brian Snitker would be ejected for arguing a balk. Snitker must have still been on east coast time. Perhaps he just wanted to get some sleep.

A Shane Robinson RBI fielder’s choice in the bottom of the 7th inning would plate Jefry Marte to tie the game at 1-1. The ground ball hit by Robinson should have been an inning-ending double play, but Jace Peterson was unable to corral Rio Ruiz‘s throw and a run scored instead. A natural first baseman likely makes the play, but Freddie Freeman‘s injury and Matt Adams‘ sore knee meant Peterson was playing out of position.

Jaime Garcia turned in yet another solid start for the Braves. The lefty pitched seven innings, allowing just one unearned run while striking out two Angels. It still wasn’t enough to get him the victory.

Brian Snitker spoke about Garcia’s performance after the game.

Unfortunately for Atlanta’s bats, Garcia was matched by Angels starter Jesse Chavez. Chavez also went seven innings, allowing just one run and striking out four batters.

Blake Parker, Jose Alvarez, and Bud Norris then combined to pitch three scoreless innings in relief. Other than Kemp’s home run, Atlanta’s offense couldn’t muster anything against the Angels.

In the bottom of the 8th, former Brave Eric Young Jr. hit a solo homer off of Arodys Vizcaino to give the Angels a 2-1 lead. That was all they would need to secure the win. The win meant the Angels took the final two games of the three-game series.

After the game, Matt Kemp spoke to the media about the loss. He didn’t seem all too enamored by the fact that he’d just hit his 250th homer. All that matters to Kemp is winning. Quotes from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

"“It’s just too bad we couldn’t get him a win today,” Kemp said. “He pitched extremely well to get that win. We’ve got to just make plays, close out ballgames…. These are games we need to win, these really close games. We just fell short.”"

They Braves have committed three errors in each of their last two games. Shortstop Dansby Swanson has 11 errors overall this season, leading the team. That’s to be expected for a rookie shortstop. It’s unfortunate but it’s something he needs to play through. Dansby will be just fine, but the shaky team defense is something to monitor moving forward.

Eventually, something will break right and the Braves will find themselves on the right side of a close game. Isn’t that how baseball is supposed to work? Everything evens out? Maybe I’m wrong. On to the next one!

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The Braves get a day off Thursday before heading to Cincinnati to start a three-game series with the Reds. Game 1 will be Friday at 7:10 p.m., Mike Foltynewicz will face off against Bronson Arroyo.