Once again, it seems that two straight wins were too much to ask for the Atlanta Braves to accomplish in this series against the Chicago Cubs.
You know what they say, there’s always tomorrow…but what about what could’ve been tonight?
Let’s first start with the highlight of the game.
Spencer Strider is slowly but surely displaying signs of his original return, pitching through six innings and only giving up two runs (both of which were RBI singles from Pete Crow-Armstrong) and six hits with 97 total
pitches.
Unfortunately, the run production wasn’t able to back him up, managing only an RBI single from Jurickson Profar to bring Ronald Acuña Jr. in for their first and only run of the game.
For seven innings, it seemed that was the score that would stick throughout the remainder of the game, until the Cubs decided to extend it with four more runs in the top of the eighth.
Who is to blame for those unanswered runs?
Remember the announcement when the Braves acquired RHP Alexis Díaz off waivers from the LA Dodgers?
Well, he made his entrance tonight at the beginning of the eighth, replacing Dylan Lee. And let’s just say his debut was…interesting.
It wasn’t Díaz who gave up the runs, but with a hit-by-pitch to Pete Crow-Arstrong, three more walks, and one resulting in a run with bases loaded, it was a setup for risk and disaster once Connor Seabold came in and allowed a three-run double from Matt Shaw to bring the other runs in, giving the Cubs a five-run lead (6-1).
Pitching wasn’t all to blame, however, as mentioned before, the bats were silent tonight. A contrast in yesterday’s performance when the Braves held their opponent to one run and scored four, giving manager Brian Snitker his 800th total victory of his managerial career.
This three-game mid-week series is not over yet. We have Chris Sale taking the mound to attempt to finish the job on his end tomorrow.
Can the offense follow the same plan to clinch the series win?
