The Atlanta Braves dropped a series-opening loss to the Boston Red Sox in incredibly frustrating fashion. Abraham Toro and Trevor Story combined to form an irresistible pair that helped lead the Red Sox to a 5-1 win over the Braves.
Things got going on a positive note for the Braves in this one, as Ronald Acuña Jr. led off the game with a single, made it to second on a walk from Marcell Ozuna and then he scored in extremely bizarre fashion. Matt Olson hit a single out to right field which would’ve easily scored Acuña under normal circumstances. However, the throw from Wilyer Abreu in right field was an absolute laser beam which beat Acuña to home plate by a mile. However, the throw took a bad hop that ate up catcher Carlos Narváez and Acuña scored anyways to make it 1-0 at that time. Anyways, I hope y’all enjoyed that because that is where Atlanta’s luck ran out in this one.
The Braves stayed in control of this one during the first three innings, which is when the game suddenly and quickly turned in favor of the Red Sox in the blink of an eye. Everything was going smoothly in this game for Grant Holmes until the two men who would form a dynamic duo for Boston in this one made their presence felt. Toro got on with a single and then Trevor Story ambushed Grant Holmes and pulled a slider that was on the inside of the zone and sent it flying into the seats for a go-ahead two-run homer. Just like that, it was the Red Sox who were out in front and it was on Atlanta’s offense to figure out a way to respond.
To their credit, Boston’s pitching staff bent in this one but they never really broke while the Braves and their fans were left having to grapple with the fact that this was definitely looking like yet another one of those types of nights at the ballpark. Atlanta got a couple of baserunners on in the fourth inning in an effort to immediately respond to Story’s dinger but Ronald Acuña Jr. struck out to end that frame. Boston was also smart enough to not push their luck with Giolito in this one, as they took him out with two outs in the fourth so that they could avoid a matchup with Matt Olson that has given Giolito fits in the past. Instead, Justin Wilson struck out Olson and that was that for the fifth inning.
Carlos Narváez hit a one-out double and then Abraham Toro’s third hit of the night was a two-out double that gave Boston a bit of breathing room. Toro’s double ended Grant Holmes’ night at 5.2 innings and three runs allowed with nine strikeouts and one walk. I’d argue that he pitched better this time than he did during this same matchup in Boston but this time he was leaving with a deficit instead of a lead. That’s baseball for you, I suppose. Anyways, at that point in the contest, this game was essentially the Toro-and-Story Show and unfortunately for the Braves, this wouldn’t be the last time that Toro would pop up as a major thorn in Atlanta’s side in this particular game.
After Dylan Lee escaped a one-out bases-loaded jam by striking out pinch-hitter Rob Refsnyder and getting Carlos Narváez to line out, it sure seemed like the baseball gods were going to punish the Red Sox for leaving the bases loaded in their half of the frame as the Braves proceeded to get a rally going in their half of the seventh. Luke Williams led it off with a double, Ozzie Albies got hit by a pitch with one out and then Matt Olson came up to the plate against Brennan Bernardino and hit a 113-mph bullet towards the middle-left portion of the infield.
Naturally, Trevor Story pulled out an incredible play to field it and threw it to first base, where it took every last centimeter of Abraham Toro’s body to stretch out to make the catch while holding the bag with the very edge of his toe. What made it infuriating to watch live was the fact that Matt Olson was ruled safe initially. The Red Sox were given, uh, generous amounts of time to decide if they wanted to review it or not and the review itself was inconclusive at best. However, it wasn’t inconclusive to the replay officials and that’s all that mattered here so instead of the Braves eventually pulling to within one run, the Red Sox had escaped without taking any damage on the scoreboard. This was the Toro-and-Story Show tonight and the Braves were stuck having to grin and bear it.
Pierce Johnson actually struck out Abraham Toro and Trevor Story in the eighth inning but again, that’s as good as it got for the Braves in this one. Sean Murphy got robbed of a line drive by Marcelo Mayer in their half of the eighth inning and the ninth inning was a “perfect” finish to how this game went for the Braves. Kristian Campbell led off the ninth by hitting a grounder that Austin Riley couldn’t field cleanly. Boston eventually loaded the bases in strange fashion, as Jarren Duran hit a ground ball to Matt Olson with runners on the corners and nobody out. Olson threw it home thinking that pinch-runner David Hamilton would simply just run home. Instead, Hamilton was still close enough to third base to where he was able to scamper back to third and the Braves now had to deal with a bases-loaded situation instead of getting the lead runner out.
Atlanta finally got the first out of this inning off of Rafael Devers but it cost them two runs along the way, as Devers singled up the middle in order to plate Hamilton and Ceddanne Rafaela. Devers got thrown out at third trying to push their luck and honestly, I don’t blame him for going for it because that’s just how this game was going for Boston at this point. Dodd retired the side in order from that point forward, Aroldis Chapman entered the game for the Red Sox in the bottom of the ninth and sat down the Braves 1-2-3 to end the game 5-1 in favor of Boston.
So this was incredibly frustrating to watch! This just felt like one of those games where everything was coming up Milhouse for the Red Sox and the Braves would have no luck if not for having bad luck. This isn’t to say that the Red Sox were simply lucky, as it’s hard to complain about losing a game when the team you’re pulling for can only muster up one run. However, it just seemed like every bounce went Boston’s way while Atlanta’s luck essentially evaporated after the first inning. This was a “blah” night at the ballpark for the Braves and hopefully things will be better for tomorrow’s game, which starts at 4:10 p.m. ET.