ATLANTA -- Six first-inning runs off Braves starting pitcher Max Fried wasn’t enough for the Diamondbacks on Saturday night at Truist Park.
Arizona led by as many as six runs on two separate occasions in the contest, but a late Atlanta offensive eruption -- capped by Austin Riley’s eighth-inning go-ahead single -- helped the Braves escape with a series-clinching 9-8 win.
The D-backs have lost three straight. Arizona entered the series with a 4-0 record when leading after the sixth inning or later. It has now dropped two in a row when leading after seven innings.
“We were in total control of that game,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “I thought [starting pitcher] Brandon [Pfaadt] was executing and throwing the ball well. He made maybe one tiny mistake. We were ready to play in the first inning and we jumped on them for six runs. We couldn’t hang on. We gotta do some things better.”
After posting three first-inning runs off Braves No. 1 starter Spencer Strider on Friday, Arizona gave Fried double the trouble in Saturday’s first inning with six runs on seven hits.
Just like Friday, Ketel Marte started the game with a leadoff home run -- this one traveling 461 feet -- and he wasn’t done. Later in the inning -- as the ninth man to bat in the frame -- Marte doubled for his second RBI. Marte has homered in three straight games. Jake McCarthy, Randal Grichuk and Christian Walker each tallied RBI singles in the first.
That gave Pfaadt a big lead to work with in his second start of the season. Pfaadt delivered three scoreless innings before the Braves struck for two runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Pfaadt then served up a three-run home run to Marcell Ozuna to cut the D-backs’ lead to three. He went 5 2/3 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits, and he struck out seven batters in the no-decision.
“That was the one pitch I wish I had back and sadly that’s not possible,” Pfaadt said of the Ozuna home run. “We got him on some sliders on the at-bat previous and that was our game plan: to throw him that and make him hit it. We just didn’t execute. I just left it middle.”
After Fried’s departure in the fifth, the Braves bullpen blanked the D-backs, which allowed Atlanta to score seven unanswered runs.
Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a game-tying RBI single off Luis Frías in the bottom of the eighth, and he advanced to second on a McCarthy throwing error as the ball slipped out of the right fielder’s hand when trying to throw Jarred Kelenic out at home.
After Ozzie Albies’ groundout, Riley punched a game-winning single through the left side.
“I tried to come in quick in a do-or-die situation to try to make a play at the plate,” McCarthy said of his errant throw. “I tried to stop the runner from running home. I never had it [on the transfer]. You’re really thinking about the guy going home but you make the error there and [Acuña] ends up at second. It’s obviously frustrating.”
Trouble with the ‘pen
On both sides of the ball, the D-backs have had trouble with the bullpen this series. Arizona relievers allowed four runs (two earned) on Friday and four runs (three earned) on Saturday.
After scoring six runs in the first, the D-backs tallied just two runs for the remainder of the contest (both off Fried). On Saturday, the Atlanta bullpen went 4 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits. The Braves bullpen has not allowed a run in 10 2/3 innings this series.
“I like to believe eight [runs] is enough,” Lovullo said. “Their pitchers did a good job. The offense came out and pounded the baseball early on against a very good starting pitcher. We tacked on a couple more. Their pitchers did a good job. [Braves reliever Dylan] Lee did a good job. He shut us down. I feel like eight should be enough runs for sure.”