But the Braves are 28-32 in their last 60 games, dating back to April 28.
Five observations:
1. The Braves trailed by two runs when Jesse Chavez ran out in the top of the seventh inning and allowed a leadoff double.
Then came a surprising litany of errors.
Matt Olson missed a routine ground ball, though Chavez did not run to cover first base. (Chavez said he assumed Olson would make the play.)
A couple of batters later, Chavez fielded a soft grounder — which scored a run — and threw badly, but the throw went wide of Olson, allowing another run to score.
“My heel came out and that caused my hip to open up and throw the ball toward the line,” Chavez said. “Normally, I’m pretty good at that.”
Immediately afterward, Johan Rojas stole third base and Travis d’Arnaud’s throw sailed over Austin Riley and into left field. Fans booed. Riley was called for an error. “In my case, I just missed it,” Riley said.
The Braves suddenly trailed by five runs after three innings of errors.
“I feel like that was the inning that affected us,” Riley said.
The errors became even more costly when Marcell Ozuna hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth inning. It gave the Braves life and brought them within two runs.
This extended his poor start to the seventh inning.
In their run of six straight division titles and a World Series, the Braves have often played crisp, exciting baseball. Fans aren’t used to this. Every team has nights like this, but the Braves picked a bad game for it.
“That inning got away from us,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It’s unusual because we’re not like that.”
Postgame reflections from Braves manager Brian Snitker following Friday’s loss to the Phillies.
2. Before that disaster, the biggest moment of the game probably came in the top of the sixth inning, when Trea Turner stepped up to face Max Fried for the fourth time. At the time, the Braves were down by one run. The Phillies had a man on base.
Turner, who has had plenty of success against Fried in their careers, had homered off the lefty in his previous at-bat. When Turner stepped into the batter’s box, Fried was at 97 pitches. He had already allowed 10 hits, though those had produced only three runs.
Still, Snitker allowed Fried to face Turner again.
And for the second time, Turner lined a two-run shot to left field off Fried, who hit another breaking ball on the second pitch. The Phillies led 5-2.
“Unfortunately, he tried to get the slider down right there and left it in the middle, and he took a good swing,” Fried said.
This decision to keep Fried in the game, however, seemed surprising. Not only had Fried launched a two-run homer off Turner two innings earlier, but the left-hander had just issued an eight-pitch walk to left-handed hitter Bryson Stott, in which he got to two strikes before seeing two foul pitches and two more called balls.
Additionally, prior to that at-bat, Turner had gone 16-for-41 against Fried between the regular season and postseason (including his first three at-bats of the night), with two homers and four RBIs. And in their previous matchup, Turner deposited a curveball into the left-field seats.
“I think I have a lot of confidence in Max,” Snitker said of Fried’s addition. “That’s probably what gives him a leg up. I’ve seen him get out of tight spots and then hang in there for innings like that, drain the tank and get the job done. That’s the confidence I have in him.”
The Braves made it a two-run game when Ozzie Albies homered in the bottom half, but then the game fell apart in the seventh.
Asked if he was surprised Snitker kept him in the game, Fried said: “I always expect to get the ball. No matter the situation, what inning I’m in. I want that ball and I want that opportunity to get the out. I had every confidence that I was going to be able to get the job done, and unfortunately tonight I didn’t.”
3. Without Bryce Harper. Without Kyle Schwarber. Without JT Realmuto.
Still, the Phillies looked potent.
“You can’t pass up a pitch, you can’t pass up an at-bat against them,” Chavez said. “You have to stay focused on every pitch, from one to as many as you have to throw that day, because they’re a lineup that can hit the ball out of the park or get multiple hits in a row.”
Fried allowed five earned runs, his most since allowing six against Arizona in his second start of the season. He matched a career high by allowing 11 hits. (He also did that against Milwaukee in 2019.)
“It was one of those nights where I was in control, but not in control; I was throwing strikes, but I wasn’t controlling the ball to the sides of the plate,” Fried said. “A lot of pitches were going up the middle instead of missing the plate. Yeah. You saw a good team have a really good approach. You don’t stumble with 11 hits.”
4. For Friday’s game, Snitker moved Riley from fifth to third in the order. This paid off almost immediately.
With the Braves trailing by three runs, Riley hit a two-run homer to center off Aaron Nola in the fourth inning.
Riley entered Friday’s game batting .389 in 57 regular-season plate appearances against Nola. The six home runs (including Friday’s) that Nola has allowed to Riley are the most he has allowed to any opponent.
“He caught me twice. I was able to catch him once,” Riley said. “We’ve gone against each other so many times. You build up your memory bank and so does he. It’s a battle. Because like I said, you’ve seen it so many times, different sequences here and there, and you’re just trying to make a mistake at that point.”
5. The Braves’ 10-game deficit in the division is their largest since they entered the game 10 games behind the Phillies on June 12 and 13.
“The season isn’t over,” Riley said. “You can’t feel sorry for yourself. You’ve got to keep going out there and doing your best. Come in tomorrow and be prepared to try to win a game. That’s all you can do, and I feel like in the locker room we’re going to do that.”
The Braves won’t be looking at the visitors’ scoreboard all season. They should just focus on themselves.
“Yeah, we have to take each day as what it is,” Chavez said. “We don’t look at the scoreboard. That doesn’t do anybody any favors, it doesn’t do us any good. If we look at the scoreboard, what’s going to happen? It’s not going to give us a hit, it’s not going to give us an out. But we show up every day with what we have to do, the task at hand, we understand the modus operandi of that day and we attack it.”
Statistics to know
3 – The Braves are one of four teams to commit three errors in one inning this season. Washington, Boston and the White Sox have also done it. Friday marked the first time Atlanta has done it since the seventh inning of a game against the Nationals on Sept. 29, 2023. Ironically, Chavez was also on the mound during that span and Riley committed two of the three errors.
Quotable
“We’re a good defensive team. It was a tough inning. It ended up costing us dearly.” – Riley on that seventh inning
Until next time
On Saturday, Spencer Schwellenbach will pitch against the Phillies, who will send Ranger Suarez to the mound. The first pitch will be at 7:15 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on FOX.
