Atlanta Braves lose fourth straight, swept by Colorado Rockies

After sweeping the Miami Marlins four games in the previous series, the Atlanta Braves get a taste of that by getting swept four games by the Colorado Rockies

This season, the Atlanta Braves often came at risk of getting swept on plenty of occasions but usually would win the last game to avoid it. However, this time was different as the team came short against the Colorado Rockies as they had this entire series. It was the Rockies first ever four-game sweep in Atlanta.

It was another game where the Braves had the lead first and went on to lose it. Anibal Sanchez had a good outing (just like Mike Foltynewicz and Julio Teheran earlier in the series) but other factors like the bullpen (not so much this time) and a silent offense (more so) could not figure out the Rockies.

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German Marquez tossed seven innings while allowing two runs with five strikeouts. The Braves got him early in the very first inning when Freddie Freeman hit a 2-out double to left. He scored two batters later via Johan Camargo‘s single.

The Rockies responded the next inning with a leadoff home run by Trevor Story off of Sanchez. Sanchez went on to pitch 6.2 innings while striking out eight batters and gave up three runs total.

DJ LeMahieu homered to deep left center in the third to give the Rockies the lead. Following that, David Dahl doubled and came home to score on Nolan Arenado‘s single.

The Philadelphia Phillies do not play until 7 tonight but with the loss, the Braves lose the lead in the NL East and are back in a tie with them.

[semi-update: midway through, the Mets are up 6-0… update 2:  Mets win 8-2.  Braves stay in 1st place.]

To make today’s game close, the Braves added a run in sixth when Freeman singled, moved to second via wild pitch and scored when Camargo hit another two-out single. Camargo has had a lot of two-out hits lately as the Braves have scored a lot on two-outs as of late. This cut the lead to 3-2.

Hope Trailing Away

Brad Brach came in the ninth to try to shut down the Rockies and give the Braves a chance. Gerardo Parra had a one-out single but was thrown out at third by Ender Inciarte during Ryan McMahon‘s single. Two outs now, but Carlos Gonzalez came in to pinch-hit and knocked in an insurance run.

Still possible for a rally but harder. However, Wade Davis came in and only allowed a one-out single to Inciarte. Even with his 2-6 W-L record and 5.08 ERA, the Braves couldn’t pull off a comeback.

It is the first time the Braves have been swept in a series since May (4th-6th) when they were taken out in three games against the San Francisco Giants. It’s also only the second one this season.

See? They (almost) always seemed to manage avoiding a sweep.

The Braves will now head to Pittsburgh for a three game series against the Pirates before going down to Miami for another four-game series there.

An Aside

In a bit of an odd ironic twist, our favorite villain Jose Urena pitched today for the Marlins against the Nationals just prior to dropping his suspension (that’s the expectation) so that he will be unavailable against the Braves next weekend.

How’d that go?  He threw a complete game 2-hitter.  The Marlins won 12-1, putting (probably) the final dagger into the heart of the Nationals, now 62-63 on the year.

Kevin Gausman (7-9, 4.22) will take the mound on Monday against Chris Archer (4-5) who the Pirates acquired at the trade deadline. Game starts at 7:05 PM ET.