Once upon a time (although it wasn’t just once), the Braves used Carlos Carrasco in a close game. Ronald Acuña Jr. got injured in that game and ended up missing about six weeks of play. The use of Carrasco turned sinister, the Braves lost that game, and then ended up mired in a funk that lasted for a good chunk of Acuña’s absence.
Tonight, Ronald Acuña Jr. made his return to the lineup. It could have been a triumphant time, building on the Braves’ recent strong run of results. Instead, amid some rain
and another indifferent outing from Martin Perez, the Braves opted to insert Connor Thomas, the “last guy” in their bullpen, into a tie game. It went south almost immediately, and then it kind of ran out south to go, as the Mets just pummeled Thomas into oblivion. To the Braves’ credit, they let Thomas wear it and didn’t use another pitcher, avoiding a double-down mistake of using Thomas to save the rest of the bullpen but then not actually saving the rest of the bullpen. (Jorge Mateo got the last out in lieu of Thomas, after the score had ballooned to 14-3 in favor of the Mets.)
Before all that, though, the game was pretty cool. In his first major league PA in a while, Acuña fell behind 0-2 against Zac Thornton, battled back to 3-2, and then teed off on a pitch down the middle, knocking it 108 mph to center for a solid single. Drake Baldwin followed followed with a hard liner single of his own, and the Braves seemed to be in business. Unfortunately, Matt Olson hit into a double play, but Ozzie Albies, as part of a measure of personal revenge for possibly a career-worst game on Sunday, legged out an infield hit to plate his buddy for the first run of the game.
Martin Perez did not have a shutdown first inning. A hard-hit grounder went for a leadoff hit, and then Francisco Lindor got his arms extended on a cutter on the edge away and nearly hit it out of the park. The play ended up being kind of weird, as it looked like it was just going to be a double, but the ball bounced far enough off the wall that Lindor ended up getting an RBI triple. But, Perez pachinko also cuts the other way, as a grounder to third, a strikeout, and flyout to center kept the game tied at one run apiece.
Nothing much happened in the second or the top of the third. In the bottom half of the inning, after a leadoff single, Lindor again took a Perez pitch on the outer edge, this time a changeup, and pulled it into left for a two-run homer. Perez was hitting his spots, but it didn’t matter. That score didn’t last long: after Olson drew a leadoff walk in the fourth, Albies victimized Thornton by crushing an elevated fastball for a definitive non-cheapie homer. Michael Harris II singled and it looked like the Braves might’ve solved Thornton, but that didn’t end up being the case, as Mauricio Dubon popped out and Austin Riley hit into a double play.
With rain increasing in intensity, there was a respite in action for a little bit. Acuña hit into a double play to end the top of the fifth, jammed on an inner-portion fastball. (In his second PA, he struck out on a fastball up but in the zone.)
The bottom of the fifth was one of those ridiculous, “we’ve seen this too much already” things. With the rain becoming a serious downpour, Perez kept laboring. There were two quick outs, but then a bloop single, a hard-hit single, and a walk loaded the bases. Perez ended up falling behind 3-1 to Jared Young, but ultimately struck him out — Young swung at just one of seven pitches in the PA. That seemed like it was a middle portion of an exciting game, especially as the rain began to dissipate, but… nope.
After a 1-2-3 top of the sixth, in came Connor Thomas. Did the Braves have to use Thomas? They’ll probably say yes, but eh. Dylan Dodd pitched on Sunday but not in the two games before that, and only threw 11 pitches on Sunday. Danny Young had a crazy adventure on Sunday but ended up throwing fewer than ten pitches, and hadn’t pitched on Saturday. While “Martin Perez and then Connor Thomas” isn’t much of a plan, it doesn’t look like the Braves really cared. So, Thomas came in, and while there was a chance that it might work out okay, that’s not where the roulette wheel landed tonight. Far from it. First, a ball ate up Austin Riley. Then, Thomas threw a cutter down the middle, and Marcus Semien untied the game with a crush job homer. Thomas got out of the sixth after a few more hits by striking out Lindor.
The Braves chased Thornton in the seventh, but didn’t manage any damage. It didn’t really end up mattering. Walk-single-another massive homer against Thomas made it a rout. Then there were more walks, a double, a sac fly, yadda yadda yadda. Thomas stayed in for the eighth, which included walking in a run, and eventually a three-run homer by Lindor (whom Thomas was facing a third time, not that it really mattered at that point). I hope the Braves at least give Thomas a gift basket for basically being asked to wear a rout by himself, because it wasn’t exactly a positive experience for anyone but the Mets.
The Braves made 14 straight outs on their end to finish the game, but a lot of those happened when it was pretty irrelevant what they did. Perez did okay, with a 4/1 K/BB ratio in five frames, but he did give up the homer. Thomas’ line was really bad, but the Braves made this choice, and will ultimately live with it. On the plus side, the Phillies somehow bungled a two-run lead in the ninth in a game where they took the lead despite Zack Wheeler only lasting three innings, so the division lead remains intact at 5.5.
Acuña ended up going 1-for-4 with two strikeouts in his return. Other than Albies, no Brave reached base more than once on a soggy night.
The series theoretically continues tomorrow, but it’s gonna be rainy, so we’ll see.
