Earlier today, the Braves lost the first game of the doubleheader with the San Francisco Giants 7-2 following Tuesday night’s rainout. On Wednesday, they lost again, this time 7-5, to lose the series.
Atlanta Braves rookie JR Ritchie was making his sixth start of the season on Wednesday. The right-handed Seattle, Washington native had looked good in some moments, like his most recent start against the New York Mets, and not so good in others.
On Wednesday night, under a blue sky and an 82-degree game-time temperature, Ritchie (5 innings, 5 ER, 5 hits) took the second loss of his career.
Atlanta Braves manager Walt Weiss said of Ritchie’s performance, “I thought he did a nice job recouping and getting through five [innings].”
The loss marks the Braves’ worst 10-game run of the season (4-6). Weiss knows it’s just a blip on the radar screen we call a 162-game season. “It’s a good group, they’ll find their way through it,” he said after the game.
The Giants got started early, getting a run off a double from notorious Braves killer Rafael Devers (2-4 with an RBI). During his career, Devers has hit .330 with 10 home runs and 39 RBI in just 36 games.
29 pitches into the second inning, a Ritchie slider was put over the left field wall by shortstop Willy Adames to give the Giants a 2-0 lead. The San Francisco advantage grew to 5-0 following back-to-back home runs from Luis Arraez and Bryce Eldridge. Arraez had two hits last night before the rain delay and continued his hitting streak with the two-run home run today.
It got better as the game went on. Ritchie pitched well during the third, fourth, and fifth innings, holding the Giants hitless on their third time through the lineup. The three home runs are a blemish on Ritchie’s young record, but he did strike out the Giants’ two best hitters, Matt Chapman and Devers, during the fifth.
Nothing was going well for the Braves’ offense either. Case in point, Mauricio Dubon hit a pair of deep fly balls that landed at the back of the left field warning track. He would hit one more in the ninth inning, but that one made it over the fence for a two-run home run that made the score 7-4. Drake Baldwin, who hit a home run to lead off the game on Tuesday, struck out twice, grounded out to the Giants pitcher Carson Whusenhunt, and grounded out to first base during his first four at-bats on Wednesday. He did manage to pick up a single in the ninth inning.
All-Star first baseman Matt Olson was 0-2 before getting his first hit of the game, a single, in the sixth inning. That was followed by a single to left field by Ozzie Albies, and the first run of the game for Atlanta off a single by Austin Riley (35 RBI on the season). Dom Smith’s pinch-hit sac fly brought Albies home and made the score 5-2.
During the ninth inning, Olson (2-4 with two singles) was moved to right field to make room for Rowdy Tellez, who pinch-hit in the eighth inning. Olson last played in right field in 2017.
The Giants tacked on two more runs in the ninth inning to make the score 7-2. Despite the earned runs, Carlos Carrasco was excellent in relief for Ritchie.
The Braves made it interesting in the ninth, getting three more runs to force the Giants to bring another arm out of their bullpen, but it wasn’t enough.
After the game, Austin Riley, who went 3-4, said of the current rough patch, “We’ve been going so well, it’s just a bump in the road. We’re going to be alright.”
Thursday’s game against the Ginats has a scheduled 7:15 p.m. first pitch.
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