Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse for the Atlanta Braves after being swept by both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres in their first six games of the road trip, the Seattle Mariners hand them their seventh straight loss.
Things started off okay for the Braves today as they struck first when Chris Johnson got an RBI single off of Seattle ace Felix Hernandez.
Atlanta starter Alex Wood appeared to be matching up well with Hernandez early in the ballgame, but then the debacle of the Braves came.
In the bottom half of the 4th inning with runners at first and second, Mariners first baseman Logan Morrison slapped a ball through the hole into left field. The tying run scored to make the score 1-1, but on the throw by Braves left fielder Justin Upton, both of Seattle’s runners took an extra base, leaving them at second and third with two outs.
Then the wheels fell off for the Braves. During this play, while the Mariners tied run crossed the plate, Braves short stop Andrelton Simmons quickly hustled to cover third base. As he ran towards the bag, he did not become aware that he was very near the bag and rolled his ankle. David O’ Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution has confirmed that it is an ankle sprain.
#Braves Simmons left-ankle sprain, will be reevaluated tomorrow.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) August 6, 2014
After Simmons was replaced by Ramiro Pena, the next Seattle hitter, Chris Taylor, hit a pop-up to shallow right field, which was dramatically dropped by second baseman Tommy La Stella, allowing both runners on base to score. This was also followed by another RBI hit by Austin Jackson that gave the Mariners a big fourth-run inning, which proved to be enough for king Felix.
Felix Hernandez looked very comfortable pitching tonight as he threw eight innings of one -run baseball. The Braves scored a late run off of closer Fernando Rodney, making the final score 4-2 in favor of the Mariners.
So what’s next for Atlanta?
The Braves have shown some signs that lead us to believe they can get out of the funk, but nothing has been strung together. The offense has struggled to score runs when needed and, like in the San Diego series, when they had runners in scoring position, they hit into very unfortunate double plays or struck themselves out of the possible rallies.
With the Nationals loss versus the Mets Tuesday, the Braves remain 3.0 games behind in the N.L. East standings. Atlanta has a second and final game against the Mariners Wednesday, looking to avoid yet another sweep. then, after a day off on Thursday, they will have a three-game set versus their arch-nemesis, the Washington Nationals, which has the makings of a huge and determining series.
Worst case scenario: The Braves head into their three-game series versus the Nationals with a 4.5 game deficit, but if the Braves could snap the losing streak tomorrow, combined with a loss or two of the Nationals, they would enter the series only 1.5 or 2.5 games behind in the division.
The Braves will look to carry some momentum home and snap the losing steak in their final game of the road trip as they will send Julio Teheran (10-7, 2.69 ERA) to the mound to face Chris Young (9-6, 3.19 ERA) of the Mariners in the final game of the two game series.
Photo Credit: Elaine Thompson
