BRAVES STILL BATTLING POST-SEASON WOES
Late rally not quite enough to prevent Game 1 loss in NLDS
It is one of the state-of-the-art stadiums in baseball, a destination area ringed with bars, restaurants and more bars to enhance the fan experience.
Given the Atlanta Braves’ lack of success in playoff action in recent years and coupled with the fun factor of their new home, SunTrust Park, the change to the suburban locale was welcomed by some.
The latest results, however, told the same old story Thursday in a dramatic conclusion to a wild and sizzling Georgia afternoon and evening.
Having trouble hitting the ball out of the outfield for much of the night, the Braves fell apart by allowing a combined five runs in the eighth and ninth innings. The result was a 7-6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the opening game of the best-of-five National League Divisional Series.
A dreadful night of plodding, sloppy baseball suddenly turned electric in the ninth inning with the Cardinals scoring four runs and the Braves almost matching with three in a failed but exciting comeback bid.
The defeat will make for nervous times for general manager Alex Anthopoulos and the followers of the Braves, who have lost their past nine consecutive post-season series, the second-most in MLB history.
And it gets worse. The popular franchise is just 3-16 when dropping the opener of a playoff series, while the Cards are a formidable 11-3 all-time in fivegame series and will send surging right-hander Jack Flaherty to the mound for Friday’s Game 2.
Though the Braves were opportunistic at times in the opener, they generated far too little offence. Two of their runs were unearned and none of them came as the result of balls hit out of the outfield until Ronald Acuna Jr.’s two-out home run in the ninth to cut the St. Louis lead to 7-5.
For a high-flying offence led by stars such as Ronald Acuna
Jr., Josh Donaldson and Freddie Freeman, it was an opening game comeuppance for the NL East champs.
Though the Braves never trailed until the ninth inning, the longer this one went, the more they seemed vulnerable.
And sure enough, a four-run outburst in the ninth — led by a bases-loaded double from Marcell Ozuna — put the visitors on top. The Braves weren’t done, however. A two-run homer by Acuna and a solo shot by Freeman pulled this to within one, in a scintillating comeback bid that came up just short.
The importance of claiming the first game in these short series is obvious, of course, but perhaps of even more urgency to the Braves given their recent post-season struggles.
Settled into their spiffy new ballpark (which regrettably still houses the Tomahawk Chop, the Tomahawk Taphouse and more), the Braves seem determined to reverse field.
A sellout crowd of 42,631 filled the joint on Thursday in anticipation of the Braves building off their record 19th division title (matched only by the New York Yankees in all of MLB).
ROTATING ROTATION
As defending NL East champions, the Braves were considered serious contenders to repeat prior to the season. They did just that, albeit with a starting rotation starkly different than what it was on opening day.
Consider that Game 1 starter Dallas Keuchel was still a free agent (eventually signed in June), Game 2 starter Mike Foltynewicz was on the injured list and Canadian rookie Mike Soroka was at triple-A Gwinnett.
“When we left spring training, we pretty much didn’t have our rotation at all,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It took a while to heal that.
“We’ve been really good organizationally at filling those holes and having guys that made an immediate impact.”
AROUND THE BASES
■ Keuchel, who played a key role in the World Series run by the Houston Astros two years ago, battled at times, but held the Cards to just one run on five hits through 42/3 innings.
■ The heat was definitely on in Hot-lanta, a record in fact. The first-pitch temperature of 36 C was the hottest ever recorded on Oct. 3.
■ Like the Braves, the Cardinals have been regulars to the post-season, advancing to October baseball seven times since 2009.