They led 5-0 early. They still led 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning with two outs. It wasn’t enough for the Atlanta Braves. The Los Angeles Dodgers rallied and won 6-5 on a walk-off solo home run by Shohei Ohtani.
They head back to Atlanta 0-7 – the only winless team remaining in Major League Baseball. For what it’s worth, the nightmare of a West Coast road trip is over.
Even if the bats were able to string runs together on Wednesday night, a lot of improvement still needs to be made.
“We’ve yet to play a complete game,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Scored a few runs – had the potential for a lot more.”
The Braves had the bases loaded again in the fifth and had a runner on third base in the seventh. While the offense isn’t typically at fault after scoring five runs, there is a reason why some blame is felt.
They went 5-for-15 with runners in scoring position. It’s their best showing by far this season, but what they didn’t take advantage of sticks out more right now.
Key bullpen arms struggled. This time, Daysbel Hernandez got into trouble, and Raisel Iglesias couldn’t bail him out before giving up the walk-off.
While the bullpen struggled late, Iglasias’ teammate and his manager came to his defense. He’s been put in the position to just sit out in the bullpen and get cold.
“It’s not on him whatsoever,” third baseman Austin Riley said. “He’s pitched one time in six days, and you ask him to go out there and get five outs. It’s tough.”
Snitker felt going with his closer beyond three outs was the best chance to finish off the game.
“I wanted to try and go after this game, and he’s our best pitcher,” he said.
In reality, the blame goes all around. The offense could have done more, sure. But Bryce Elder gave up three runs on two home runs in four innings. The Braves required six pitchers. That’s part of the blame. Hernandez and Iglesias couldn’t get out of trouble. That took part in not getting 27 outs.
The only saving grace the Braves have left at this point is that the two teams they played this season are a combined 14-0. They didn’t win a single game against them, but no one else has either. Going back to last season, the Braves were swept by the Dodgers in a series as well. They lost three of four in a series with the Padres.
Being a repeat offender isn’t an excuse. The fact that we’re not witnessing anything new and the fact that it all happened in the first seven games of the season might only make it worse. Another piece of hope isn’t coming to mind at this point, so here’s that.
Last season, they finished 84-64 against teams that weren’t the Padres and Dodgers. They’ll finally get to play one of the other 27 teams.
The Braves get their first off day of the season and then will host the Miami Marlins to open their first homestand of the season. A game at home hasn’t been needed this badly in some time. The home opener is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. EDT on Friday.
