The Atlanta Braves keep finding new, painful ways to lose every single day.
It all started Wednesday night when Chris Sale delivered a masterful six-inning outing, giving up just one run and striking out ten. Yet the Braves offense barely showed up, scoring only once and leaving the bases loaded in both the eighth and ninth innings, resulting in a frustrating 2-1 loss.
Thursday afternoon brought an even more heartbreaking defeat — one that might go down as one of the worst in franchise history. Trying desperately to avoid a home sweep by the Diamondbacks, the Braves offense finally exploded with homers from Drake Baldwin, Ronald Acuña Jr., and Austin Riley, building a comfortable six-run lead heading into the ninth. But relievers Scott Blewett and Raisel Iglesias unraveled, surrendering seven runs in the final inning for yet another gut-wrenching one-run loss.
Last night continued the painful trend in almost laughably awful fashion. The Giants jumped out early with three first-inning runs thanks to shaky Braves defense and some bad luck. Though Spencer Schwellenbach settled down, and a Matt Olson two-run homer tied the game in the seventh, the score remained deadlocked heading into extra innings.
What happened in the 10th inning? It’s almost unbelievable. Ozzie Albies led off with a fly that advanced a runner to third. Eli White failed to bring him home on a groundout. The Giants intentionally walked Sean Murphy to face Michael Harris II, who was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. Luke Williams then swung at a pitch well outside the strike zone with a full count, grounding out to end the inning. As expected, failing to score in the top of extras spelled disaster.
In the bottom half, Pierce Johnson got two quick outs, with Wilmer Flores standing between the Braves and another extra inning. Ahead 1-2, Johnson’s curveball slipped past Sean Murphy, allowing the winning run to score. Another agonizing one-run loss. Another collapse.
This isn’t just a slump — it’s historic misery. Since May 14th, the Braves have lost eight straight games decided by one run. That’s almost unheard of. While you’d expect some luck to turn around, the standings paint a bleak picture: 12 games behind in the NL East and 8 games out of the Wild Card race amid a packed field.
At this point, selling off players at the trade deadline doesn’t seem far-fetched — it might be the reality for a team that has completely lost its way.
Leave a Reply