Atlanta’s bullpen was called upon to get the Braves through this game after Spencer Strider suffered a hamstring injury in extremely unfortunate fashion. The bullpen bent all night but it eventually broke later on, as the Atlanta Braves ended up suffering a heavy 10-4 defeat at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Watching Scott Blewett pitch into the fourth inning of this game with barely any signs of action in the bullpen (and Aaron Bummer eventually being the first guy to enter from the bullpen) had me feeling similar to how Dave Meltzer must’ve felt when he saw Sting, “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan railing on about dirtsheets at WCW World War 3 in 1995. I’m sharing the video for context and also because sometimes the managing editor gets to be goofy around here.
Anyways, Scott Blewett pitched the first two innings with no problem whatsoever. Then the third inning rolled around and things got interesting. Powder Springs, GA native Victor Scott II continued to enjoy his personal return to Cobb County as he hit a single and then made it to second because Jarred Kelenic missed picking up the ball while he was trying to field it. Scott eventually made it home and was joined by Lars Nootbaar once he got there, as Nootbaar got a hold of a slider at the bottom of the zone and deposited into the Chop House seats for a two-run dinger that broke the deadlock in this one.
In the bottom half of the third, the Braves got two on with two out after Austin Riley made it to second on a single and an error and then Marcell Ozuna walked for what had been the second time in the game up to that point. Matt Olson walked and that meant that the bases were loaded for Ozzie Albies. Patience would’ve been a virtue in this situation but instead, Ozzie was given a grand total of one pitch in the strike zone while swinging at three of the four pitches. He ended up striking out and the bases were left loaded after a pretty poor at-bat.
After he walked the leadoff batter in the fourth inning, Blewett gave way for Aaron Bummer. Yep, they went with the Blewett-to-Bummer combination right out of the gate. Fortunately, Bummer’s appearance tonight was no bummer as he pitched a scoreless inning to begin his stint.
Once the fourth inning rolled around, the Braves finally made started to bring a bit of power to the plate. Sean Murphy got the Braves on the board by homering with one out and then Jarred Kelenic hit a deep drive to left-center that landed at the base of the wall. This time he ran like his hair was on fire and made it into second with a double to immediately follow Murphy’s homer.
Orlando Arcia moved Kelenic over to third with a grounder and then Alex Verdugo brought him home with a two-out double of his own and just like that, the Braves had tied the game up at two runs apiece.
Austin Riley’s permanent mode of hustle continued to pay dividends for the Braves. He had an infield single last night, he already had an infield single-and-error in his second plate appearance and then he got another one in his third plate appearance. He hit a soft grounder to a perfect part of the infield and Andre Pallante chucked it into foul territory. Verdugo scored on the play and the Braves ended the fourth inning with a one-run lead after starting it with a two-run deficit.
The Braves weren’t done putting runs on the board off at Andre Pallante’s expense. Matt Olson led off the fifth inning and after a seven-pitch battle, Olson won the duel in emphatic fashion as he ended up hitting one deep to opposite field for a solo homer to give the Braves a bit of breathing room at 4-2.
The breathing room was sure nice to have after Rafael Montero entered the game and found himself in a one-out jam that was mostly of his own doing. Montero gave up a leadoff single to Alec Burleson and then he proceeded to walk two of the next three batters he saw to end up with the bases loaded and Masyn Winn at bat. Sure enough, Winn hit one to the left side and through into the outfield to bring the Cardinals within one and end Montero’s night. Dylan Lee entered the game looking to put out the fire with the bases still loaded and there still being just one out.
The good news is that the Braves didn’t leave the top of the sixth trailing. The bad news is that the tying run came in to score off of a wild pitch. The two-run lead had evaporated as quickly as it had developed, which was extremely frustrating for both yours truly and nearly all of the fans in the ballpark to see from both Montero and Lee in this particular frame. Atlanta had no choice but to pick it back up as we had a brand new ballgame once again. Fortunately, Lee made quick work of the Cardinals of the seventh in order to make sure that the game at least stayed tied heading into the money innings.
The Braves got something going in their half of the seventh inning as Austin Riley recorded another infield single and Marcell Ozuna coaxed another walk out of an opposing pitcher this season. A productive fly ball out from Matt Olson moved Austin Riley to third with one out, which meant that he was at least another productive out away from scoring at that point. Ozzie Albies did not provide that productive out, as he popped out to shallow left for the second out and then Michael Harris II grounded out to second to end the scoring threat and keep the game deadlocked at four runs apiece.
Enyel De Los Santos was called upon for the eighth inning and by then, Truist Park was getting pelted by a steady drizzle — one that was enough to send most of the fans home early but not enough for them to throw the tarp on the field. As such, the two teams played through with both squads determined to scratch across the winning run at some point. The Cardinals had a scoring chance of their own with one out in the eighth, which is when Victor Scott II continued his happy homecoming by hitting a soft double the other way to shallow left field. Scott then made it to third on a wild pitch and was joined on the basepaths thanks to two walks — one intentional and one on a nine-pitch battle where Willson Contreras battled back from being down 0-2 in order to get on with a walk.
Each of those baserunners ended up proving costly, as De Los Santos eventually gave up a two-out, bases-clearing double to Nolan Gorman that broke the deadlock and put the Braves down three. De Los Santos got the next batter out but by then, the damage was surely done and the Braves found themselves in another late-inning hole.
We finally got the much-ballyhooed (by yours truly) Nathan Wiles appearance once the ninth inning rolled around and folks, it didn’t go well at all. Wiles ended up getting hit hard and often by the Cardinals while he was out there and he ended up giving three runs on four hits in his big league debut. I apologize, y’all. Anyways, the six-run hole ended up being too much for the Braves to dig themselves out of with Ryan Helsley out there, so this ended up being a tied series at one game apiece.
The two teams will hopefully break the deadlock tomorrow starting at 12:15 p.m. ET. The weather forecast for tomorrow at the ballpark isn’t looking great but hey, the weather forecast was looking spotty for tonight’s game and they ended up playing it. Maybe we’ll see them get tomorrow’s game in and hopefully Atlanta will be able to bounce back in that one.