Braves outpitch Dodgers to win series finale

ATLANTA – Though they scored nine runs on Friday night, it was actually a pretty quiet weekend for the Dodgers in their series against the Braves. Most of the runs they scored over the three-game series were on walks, fielders’ choices, and weak contact. Sunday’s game was no different. In fact, if not for Albert Pujols‘s solo shot in the top of the ninth, they would have gone the entire series without a home run. As it was, the Pujols blast was too little, too late as the Dodgers fell to the Braves 4-2 in Atlanta.

Bauer struggles with command

Trevor Bauer got the call for the afternoon start in front of nearly 40,000 fans at Truist Park. He pitched all right, but was plagued by a little too much wildness in the early part of the game. In his six innings of work, he struck out seven, but walked four, two of whom came around to score.

Bauer gave up lone runs in three different innings, and was working out of the stretch a lot of the day. He kept catcher Will Smith busy as many of his pitches missed by… a lot. The back breaker came in the sixth and proved to be the winning run of the game. With the Braves clinging to a 2-1 lead, Abraham Almonte, who’d driven in the Braves’ first run with a double, led off the inning with a walk and advanced to second on an Ehire Adrianza single. After catcher William Contreras popped out on a bunt attempt, Ender Inciarte smacked a run-scoring single into center field, and the Braves had a critical insurance run and a 3-1 lead.

Braves add on in the eighth

More walks from reliever David Price set up another insurance run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth. Once again it was Ender Inciarte who drove in this one as well. The Braves ended up not needed the fourth run. After Pujols’s home run in the ninth, Braves closer Will Smith put the Dodgers down 1-2-3 to secure the victory.

Fried sharp for Bravos

On the other side of the ledger, Braves starter (and local product) Max Fried pitched a whale of a ballgame. He only struck out four in six innings, but he induced a lot of weak contact and ground balls throughout the game and really wasn’t challenged much on the way to giving up just one earned run. The lone blemish on Fried’s line for the day came in the fourth inning when Justin Turner doubled and then came home on a weak little humpback liner from Albert Pujols. With that weakly hit single (68.4 mph exit velo), Pujols tied Barry Bonds for fourth all-time in total bases with 5,976.

Dodgers threaten, but do not score (twice)

Cool as it was to tie the villainous Bonds, it also brought the Dodgers to within one run. And in fact, they would threaten a couple of times before the end of the game. They got back-to-back singles with one out in the sixth, but left the runners stranded at second and third. In the following inning, they got two singles to start the inning, but once again could not get a key hit in a key moment. Instead, three straight weak fly balls ended the threat. The final batter of the inning was Max Muncy, who was not slated to play in the game because of an ankle injury, but did get one at bat, so perhaps we’ll see him back in the lineup sometime in Pittsburgh.

Pujols continues to contribute

For the Dodger fans who stuck it out until the top for the ninth, they were rewarded with a little bit more history from Albert Pujols. In his final at-bat of the day, AP went deep to left for a solo home run, and is now in sole possession of fourth place on the total base leaderboard. The Dodgers investment in Pujols continues to pay dividends, as he has now hit four homers since joining the Dodgers and driven in twelve, which nearly matches his Angels output for this year in half as many at-bats.

Pirates next on the schedule

So the Dodgers begin the road trip with series loss. Since Clayton Kershaw‘s big win against the Astros, the Dodgers have dropped 7 out of 11 games. However, the next two series are against two very bad teams, Pittsburgh and Texas, so there is fertile ground to inch a bit closer to the Giants and Padres in the standings. Monday is an off day, and then Walker Buehler heads to the mound to open the series against the Pirates on Tuesday night. JT Brubaker gets the ball for the Bucs. 4:05 PDT start.