The managing wasn’t great either.
For once it wasn’t the offense. Max Fried was not good, the defense was brutal, the bullpen really didn’t have it, and there were some very questionable decisions from the manager. All of it combined to contribute to an 8-6 loss to Philadelphia Friday night at Truist Park.
Right from the jump, it was clear Max Fried didn’t have his A-game. Even though the Phillies didn’t score in the first three innings, they had baserunners everywhere. At one point Max had allowed 8 baserunners and recorded 9 outs. But he continued to dance around the danger unscathed.
The Phillies finally broke through in the fourth after back-to-back 1-out singles from Johan Rojas and Cristian Pache (who knew the bottom of a lineup was allowed to contribute.) Bryson Stott grounded into an RBI fielder’s choice, followed by a long 2-run homer from Braves nemesis Trea Turner. After flirting with danger all night, the Phillies had finally broken through with a 3-0 lead.
Up until that point Aaron Nola was throwing a perfect game. He retired 10 straight Atlanta hitters to start the game before Ozzie Albies’ 1-out single in the bottom of the 4th. Austin Riley then followed with one of the biggest bolts of the night for the home team, a rocket 2-run homer to centerfield to cut a 3-0 deficit to 3-2.
Riley has hit eight of his 11 homers within his past 68 at-bats. A fourth straight 30-homer season is back in play. pic.twitter.com/oKumRJjM6T
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) July 6, 2024
For reasons passing understanding, after Fried struggled all night and had allowed all that damage to the top of the order the third time he faced them in the 4th, he was allowed to face the top of the order for a fourth time in the top of the 6th and it went equally poorly. After walking Stott with 1-out, Max who again was facing Trea Turner for the fourth time in the game, gave up another monster 2-run homer, Turner’s second of the game, and now a 3-2 game had turned into a 5-2 game. Max was then allowed to face Alec Bohm, who was already 3-3 against him, for a fourth time as well, but was able to end the inning with a couple of groundouts.
Fried finished with an ugly line: 6 innings pitched, 11 hits, 5 earned runs, 2 HRs, 4 strikeouts.
Credit to the offense for once, they kept coming. After the Phillies jumped ahead 5-2, Albies immediately got one back with a solo homer in the bottom of the 6th to make it 5-3.
Unfortunately, the Braves’ defense still had something in this game and not in a good way. Three hits and three errors (Olson; fielding, Chavez; throwing, Riley; catching) from the Braves in the top of the 7th led to three more runs for Philadelphia and busted the game open 8-3.
But once again credit to the offense for not just rolling over the rest of the game, not something we’ve been able to say a lot this year. In the bottom of the 8th, Albies singled and Riley walked to put two runners on for Marcell Ozuna. Ozuna launched a shot to right-centerfield and over the wall for a 3-run homer and suddenly it was 8-6 again.
Just when it looked like it was time to sacrifice Snit Bear (if it still exists). pic.twitter.com/eU6d4glqIb
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) July 6, 2024
Unfortunately for the Braves, the comeback would stop there. The bottom of the 9th saw Adam Duvall, Orlando Arica and Eli White due up, and well, it was a 1-2-3 inning for Philadelphia to secure the 8-6 win.
Atlanta falls to 47-39 on the year and now a full 10 games back of Philadelphia in the NL East. After the Braves started the year 19-7, they are now 28-32 in their last 60 games.
The series will continue tomorrow night at Truist Park with Spencer Schwellenbach taking on Ranger Suarez at 7:15 ET.