Ronald Acuña Jr homers, but Braves come up short in loss to Red Sox
The Atlanta Braves put together a late rally, but came up short in a 5-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox.
Dylan Lee got the Braves’ bullpen game off to a good start. Lee allowed a two-out walk to Justin Turner in the first, but still needed just 13 pitches to navigate the inning. He retired the side in order in the second, including a back-to-back strikeouts of Darren Duran and Triston Casas.
Lee came back out for the third and retired Connor Wong on a ground out before striking out Enmanuel Valdez. He would then give way to Collin McHugh who got Rob Refsnyder to ground out to end the inning.
The Braves threatened in the third, but came away empty handed. Travis d’Arnaud walked in his first plate appearance since returning from the concussion list and then moved up to second on a hit by Michael Harris. After a strikeout by Orlando Arcia, Ronald Acuña Jr. just missed on a fly out to right. Matt Olson grounded out to a well positioned Kike Hernandez to leave the runners stranded.
Boston cracked the scoreboard against McHugh in the fourth. Alex Verdugo worked a leadoff walk and then moved up to second on a single by Justin Turner. McHugh got Masataka Yoshida to pop out for the first out, but Kike Hernandez followed with a single to left to score Verdugo to make it 1-0. Jarren Duran followed with another single, scoring Turner to extend the lead to 2-0. McHugh recovered and retired Casas and Wong to escape with no further damage.
Danny Young and Jesse Chavez worked scoreless frames in the fifth and sixth before the Braves finally broke through.
Bello allowed just three hits over the first five innings, but was facing the lineup for a third time in the sixth. Acuña got things started with a monstrous homer to left that traveled 470 feet to cut the deficit to 2-1.
After a ground out by Olson, Austin Riley singled and then moved to second on a ground out by Sean Murphy. Eddie Rosario then delivered a single to right that scored Riley to tie the game.
A.J. Minter took over on the mound in the seventh and immediately found himself in some trouble. Duran walked to get things started and then stole second base. Minter then walked Casas, but came back and struck out Wong for the first out. Alex Cora then sent Bobby Dalbec up to pinch hit and Brian Snitker would counter by summoning Nick Anderson from the bullpen. Cora countered again sending Rafael Devers to the plate, but Anderson struck him out for the second out. However, the Braves wouldn’t be able to escape as pinch-hitter Raimel Tapia doubled to right scoring Duran to put Boston back in front 3-2.
Acuña reached on an infield single off of former Braves reliever Chris Martin in the eighth, but Olson and Riley both struck out to leave him stranded.
Raisel Iglesias entered in the ninth and allowed a leadoff double to Duran and then a two-run homer to Casas to extend the lead to 5-2.
Former Braves closer Kenley Jansen entered the game in the ninth looking for his 400th career save and got Murphy to fly out, but then allowed a double down the line in right to Rosario. Albies flew out for the second out and d’Arnaud struck out to end the game.
With the loss, the Braves fall to 25-12 on the season. They split the two-game series with Boston and finish 3-2 on their five-game homestand. They will enjoy another off day Thursday before heading to Toronto Friday where they will begin a three-game series against the Blue Jays.
Source: Battery Power
