Braves to play Gm. 5 after dropping heartbreaker
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ST. LOUIS -- Instead of dwelling on the many opportunities squandered in their 5-4, 10-inning loss to the Cardinals in Game 4 of the National League Division Series at Busch Stadium on Monday, the Braves will try to remember the good fortune they created while winning Games 2 and 3.
It would have been nice to avoid having to give the ball to Julio Teheran in that decisive 10th inning. And yes, there is reason to be concerned about how quiet Freddie Freeman’s bat has been during this best-of-five series.
| Game | Date | Result | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gm 1 | Oct. 3 | STL 7, ATL 6 | Watch |
| Gm 2 | Oct. 4 | ATL 3, STL 0 | Watch |
| Gm 3 | Oct. 6 | ATL 3, STL 1 | Watch |
| Gm 4 | Oct. 7 | STL 5, ATL 4 (10) | Watch |
| Gm 5 | Oct. 9 | STL 13, ATL 1 | Watch |
Shop for postseason gear: But all of the concerns that might have developed during this latest frustrating defeat will be overshadowed by the excitement leading up to Wednesday's Game 5 at SunTrust Park. A win will advance the Braves to the NL Championship Series for the first time since 2001. A loss will painfully end a season that came with tremendous expectations.
“When you look at it, we’ve had a chance to win every game,” Freeman said. “That’s the game of baseball. If you think it’s going to go one way, it always seems to go the opposite.”
Per FanGraphs, the Braves had a 85.7 percent chance to win Game 1 before their bullpen allowed six runs over the final two innings. The Cardinals had a 83.3 percent chance to win Game 3 just before Dansby Swanson’s two-out double accounted for the first of the three runs Atlanta tallied in a 3-1 win.
• Shop for Braves postseason gear
Then, on Monday, long after Dallas Keuchel exited after 3 1/3 innings and forced manager Brian Snitker to mix and match with a short-handed relief corps, the Braves had a 74.2 percent chance to win with two outs in the eighth. But further proving this can be a game of inches, Yadier Molina got to Shane Greene with a soft game-tying single that sailed just far enough to deflect off the glove of an outstretched Freeman and land in the outfield grass.
• Freeman hopes struggles lead to 'wonderful G5'
“I just needed to be 6-7,” the 6-foot-5 Freeman said.
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Greene responded with a scoreless ninth to complete his first five-out outing in more than two years, but because the Braves did not want to use Max Fried on back-to-back days for the second time this series and because Keuchel’s early exit had forced five other relievers to be used through the first five innings, Snitker had to give the 10th inning to Teheran, who was placed on the NLDS roster after Chris Martin sustained an oblique strain in Game 1.
Teheran had hoped to start Game 4, but instead he unceremoniously ended it. After Kolten Wong doubled to start the 10th, Paul Goldschmidt was intentionally walked. Marcell Ozuna, who homered twice off Keuchel, followed with a dribbler hit too softly to result in a double play. Molina then added to his legendary status among Cardinals fans by lofting a game-ending sacrifice fly.
“When there’s a man on third and one out, there’s not much you can do,” Teheran said. “I tried to go in there, and it wasn’t enough. He got the fly ball they were looking for.”
Teheran wasn’t able to match the Cardinals' relievers, who escaped bases-loaded threats in the sixth and seventh innings. Ronald Acuña Jr. added to his mastery of Carlos Martínez with a double to lead off the ninth inning, but he was left stranded at third when Ozzie Albies popped out, Freeman grounded out and Josh Donaldson’s attempt to hit one to the moon landed in Ozuna’s glove in left field.
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“We had the chance to extend the lead a couple times,” Swanson said. “We just never could. But that’s part of it. We had the right guys up. It’s just baseball, and that’s what makes this game so hard.”
Nobody is complaining about Swanson, who has gone 7-for-14, or Acuña, who has gone 8-for-16 with five extra-base hits. Albies has gone a less robust 4-for-16, but he drilled a go-ahead two-run homer off St. Louis starter Dakota Hudson to cap a three-run fifth that Swanson started with his third double of the series.
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Given that Donaldson drilled the leadoff double in Sunday’s three-run ninth, his 2-for-15 performance in this series has at least created more value than Freeman’s 2-for-16. This duo of MVP candidates has combined to go 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position. Consequently, they’ve lessened the production of Acuña, who has a .539 on-base percentage through the first four games.
“This whole postseason thing is timing, and we had the deck stacked, I thought, pretty good in our favor, more than once today,” Snitker said. “We just couldn’t get a hit. All those guys have carried us all year, and they’ve done a good job of pitching to them.”
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The odds were in the Braves’ favor entering the eighth inning of their losses in Games 1 and 4. The odds were against them with two outs in the ninth inning of Game 3 and before Mike Foltynewicz outdueled Jack Flaherty in Game 2.
• Braves tab Foltynewicz for decisive Game 5
No MLB pitcher was better than Flaherty over the regular season’s final three months, and Foltynewicz had the NL’s second-best ERA dating back to Aug. 23. The two will match up again in Game 5, which should provide a fitting conclusion to a series that has offered the excitement and unpredictability that makes the postseason so special.
“It’s intense,” outfielder Nick Markakis said. “It’s where you want to be. It’s what you work all year long to get to. We’re giving ourselves a chance. We’ve just got to put this behind us, get to Game 5 and come out positive.”