Braves Offense Struggles Against Carlos Rodon, Giants

The Atlanta Braves closed out their extended west-coast road trip with the final game of their 3-game series against San Francisco Giants.

The Atlanta Braves have had a very up and down week, including the walk-off from the Mariners and reclaiming and re-losing the first-place spot in the division. With all that being said, the Braves have only 20 games left in the season, and every game becomes more and more important as the division lead remains within a game or two.

The Braves sat just a half-game behind the Mets as they enter play Wednesday afternoon against the Giants. With the recent slide the Mets have been on — especially against sub-.500 teams — the Braves need to take full advantage and try and gain as much ground as they can (or even retake the lead in the division) before their series with the Mets in October.

On the mound for the Braves on Wednesday afternoon was Charlie Morton, who has been on a tear since the all-star break, posting a 3.38 ERA and a K/9 of 11.1.

Carlos Rodon was the starting pitcher for the Giants Wednesday afternoon, a pitcher who has been one of the best in the league during this 2022 season.

Despite the strong starting pitching on both sides, both offenses did not hesitate to get runs on the board early in the game, starting in the bottom of the second with the Giants.

After the first two batters of the inning struck out and ground out, Charlie Morton walked and gave up a single on the next two batters. With runners on first and second, Giants catcher Austin Wynns knocked a line drive single into right field which scored a run. Morton struck out outfielder Lamonte Wade Jr. after the single to end the inning.

The Braves answered the Giants’ run with one of their own. Vaughn Grissom led off the third inning with a 5-pitch walk, but quickly advanced to second after Wynns made an errant throw to first base. With 1 out, Robbie Grossman came up to bat and lined a single into left field to bring home Grissom — the tying run.

The next two innings were quiet for both offenses, which was a reoccurring trend throughout the game.

Morton ran into trouble once again in the 5th inning after giving up a lead-off double to David Villar. After shortstop Brandon Crawford struck out, J.D. Davis ripped a double in the right-center gap which brought home Villar from second. Morton was able to get the last two outs of the inning, but the Giants led the Braves 2-1 going into the 5th inning.

After 5 innings, the Giants elected to go into their bullpen, despite Rodon sitting at only 71 pitches through 5 innings. Giants brought in reliever Tyler Rodgers, who despite giving up a lead-off single to Robbie Grossman (his second of the game), took care of business and got out of the inning without a Braves’ score.

Morton was brought out for the 6th inning but did not get very far. Former Brave Joc Pederson flew out on first the pitch of the inning, which would be Mortons’s final out of the game as he followed the fly out with a hit-by-pitch and walk.

Charlie then threw 1 pitch to J.D Davis before being pulled. Jesse Chavez was promptly brought in to relieve the Braves and face J.D. Davis with a 1-0 count.

Chavez walked Davis in the shortened at-bat; he did get the 2nd out of the inning with a pop-out in foul ground. Unfortunately for the Braves, Austin Wynns continued his attack on the Braves pitching with another RBI single, this time scoring 2 runs. Tyler Matzek was brought in and finally ended the inning.

Braves offense continued to stall throughout the game, with only getting a few hits, including William Contreras who knocked 2 singles through the infield, until the 8th inning.

With 1 out, both Eddie Rosario and Robbie Grossman both knocked unlikely singles (a soft groundball against the shift for Rosario and a pop put in no-man’s land along the foul line in right). Despite the runners in scoring position, the Braves were unable to capitalize:  a common theme for them over the past week.

Matzek was brought back in to pitch the 8th inning and continued his solid showing since returning from injury with a 3-up 3-down inning.

Down 3 coming into the ninth, the Braves had the right guys up to try and close the gap with Riley, Olson, and Contreras. Even with the firepower the Braves had in the top of the 9th, Giants closer Camilo Doval came in and shut Atlanta down, striking out the side with ease.

With the loss the Braves record sits at 88-55, which puts them back a game once again, awaiting the Mets game Wednesday night.

Atlanta struggled to get any sort of offense going tonight, only tallying 6 hits and 1 run, which is quite uncommon for this Braves lineup.

UPDATE:  The Cubs swept the Mets at Citi Field, finishing up with a 6-3 win Wednesday evening.  The margin is a half-game with New York maintaining their slim lead.

Braves will have a day off Thursday, before traveling back home for a series against Philadelphia.