Looking for another series win, the Braves had Jose Suarez on the mound facing the A’s and Aaron Civale.
Things started nicely for Atlanta and for Suarez, as Jose struck out two of the 3 A’s he faced in the first. Drake Baldwin continued his torrid hitting to start the season with a first inning homer to right center, giving Atlanta a 1-0 lead. Olson notched an opposite field single, but that was the extent of the offensive output in the first.
Jose allowed some traffic in the second, as he allowed a leadoff single and induced a double play before a walk, a balk, and a single allowed the A’s to level the game up at 1 run. Suarez continued to struggle, issuing two more walks to load the bases with two outs. A ground rule double brought home two more runs for the A’s, as Suarez was lucky it bounced over the fence, sparing a third run from scoring on the play. Suarez was able to limit the damage with a strikeout of former Braves’ prospect Shea Langeliers, but that second inning is exactly the fear when starting a guy like Suarez, even as it didn’t involve any homers.
After three groundouts from Atlanta in the home second, Suarez came back with another two strikeouts and another scoreless inning. The A’s offense broke through again in the fourth with a double and a single to go up 4-1. Suarez got two more outs to finish his second time through the Athletics’ order before Weiss wisely pulled the plug before allowing him to face the top of the order again. Joel Payamps was the first pitcher out of the bullpen and extinguished the threat in a couple pitches. Suarez issued more walks than you would want in a 3.2 inning outing, but he did also miss more bats than you would expect for his profile, accumulating 6 strikeouts and 9 whiffs. After another hapless inning on offense against Civale, Payamps came out and left a sweeper center and up in the zone to Langeliers who yanked it just inside of the left field foul pole for a solo homer, putting Atlanta in a 5-1 hole. Payamps then struck out Kurtz and Rooker before he was pulled for Martin Perez. Perez finished the inning with a strikeout of Tyler Soderstrom.
The Braves clawed a run back with singles from Dominic Smith and Mauricio Dubon and a sac fly from Ronald Acuna. Perez worked a clean sixth on three contact outs. Back to back walks from Austin and Yaz presented an opportunity for Atlanta in the sixth with one out, but righty Ozzie and Michael Harris were unable to convert the opportunity. A line drive single and a bunt single spelled trouble for Martin Perez in the seventh, but a double play and a flyout got him out of the inning.
A walk and an error put two runners on with no outs in the bottom of the seventh for the top of the Atlanta order. Ronald struck out, as he continues to scuffle to start the season, at least in terms of results. Baldwin hit a ball well but it turned into an out and Matt Olson struck out ending the threat and keeping the score at 5-2 going into the eighth. Perez worked another scoreless inning on three contact outs, making for a very efficient 4.1 inning outing with no runs, 6 whiffs, and 3 strikeouts.
The Braves didn’t lie down without a fight in the bottom of the ninth, as singles from Harris and Dubon put the tying run at the plate with one out and Ronald Acuna at the plate as well as Drake Baldwin on deck. Ronald had a pretty brutal at-bat to strike out, handing the keys to the game over to Drake, who got under one and popped up to second base, ending the game.
Join us again for a getaway game at 12:15 PM ET with Chris Sale on the mound to decide the series.
