Braves suffer another excruciating loss 1-0 in San Diego

Bad luck and bad offense sunk the Braves, who are still seeking their first win of the season.

Still looking for their first win of the season in game 3, the Atlanta Braves were hoping Spencer Schwellenbach could twirl a gem and the Braves’ offense could tee off against Randy Vasquez.

Things got off to a good start, as Vasquez walked the first two Braves’ batters of the game, but Matt Olson grounded into a double-play and Marcell Ozuna struck out, extending Atlanta’s RISP drought. Schwellenbach gave up a well-hit line drive to Fernando Tatis, but managed a 1-2-3 first on contact outs. Drake Baldwin finally found his first MLB hit with two outs in the second, with a line drive to left field. Unfortunately, he became another stranded Atlanta runner. Jackson Merrill lead off the home second with a single, but Schwellenbach murdered Cronenworth with splitters for a strikeout and Baldwin caught Merrill stealing at second with an exceptional 1.94 second pop time. A hit batsman and another strikeout later and we were on to the third inning and rapidly onto the fourth, as both pitchers completed a 1-2-3 inning.

The Braves’ offense got something going in the fourth, as Ozuna walked and Ozzie hit a line drive single, but a broken bat infield line drive from Harris was masterfully turned into an inning-ending double-play by the Padres, marking another failed RISP opportunity for Atlanta. Spencer worked around a two out walk in the bottom of the fourth for another scoreless frame. Manny Machado exited the game in the start of the fifth, after injuring his lower right leg on a swing in the fourth. Kelenic reached with a two out hard-hit single in the fifth, but was thrown out trying to steal second. Schwellenbach kept cruising in the bottom of the frame.

Matt Olson started another moment of danger in the sixth with a double that was simultaneously almost a homer and an out, as the ball deflected off of Tatis’ glove back from over the wall into play. Olson’s double would be a homer in 22/30 parks per Statcast. Ozuna followed Olson with a walk, but Ozzie popped out to end another scoring opportunity with nothing to show for it. Spencer finished his own sixth inning scoreless and he was the substantially better pitcher on the night, despite only the four strikeouts, but both starters would end their outing with 6.0 scoreless innings.

The bullpens came out in the seventh, as Wandy Peralta set the Braves down in six pitches. Aaron Bummer looked absolutely filthy, but had a ball ricochet off his foot into the dugout for a double and was pulled after the Braves intentionally walked Xander Bogaerts so that Daysbel Hernandez could face Yuli Gurriel, pinch-hitting for Gavin Sheets. In true Aaron Bummer and current Braves’ fashion, a grounder trickled up the middle to turn the ground rule double off of Bummer’s foot into the first run of the game, giving the Padres a one-run lead, before Daysbel got an easy pop-up for the third out of the seventh. That would have hurt a lot less if the Braves could convert an opportunity on offense or if that Matt Olson double had landed where it was going to before Tatis deflected it, but the score was 1-0 Padres.

Jurickson Profar managed a one out single in the eighth, but a nice play from Jason Heyward in left and a near-miss-homer-turned-flyout from Olson ended the inning with another 0 on the scoreboard. Enyel De Los Santos got the eighth for Atlanta out of the bullpen, after Dasybel only threw six pitches to finish the seventh, and to Enyel’s credit, worked around a Tatis one out single for a scoreless frame.

Marcell started off the top of the ninth well for Atlanta, with a walk. Ozzie flew out and Eli White stole second, pinch-running for Ozuna. Harris grounded out, moving White to third, passing the baton to Drake Baldwin. Baldwin in a huge spot worked a great at-bat, seeing eight pitches, but struck out looking on a full count on a fastball that perhaps just grazed the top of the zone.

The Braves’ offense was unlucky, but simply not good enough to win this game, as the pitching did everything it could do and faced bad luck off of Bummer’s foot. Just a brutal start to the season for Atlanta.

Join us again tomorrow at 7:10 PM ET, as the Braves look to avoid the four game sweep on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.