Atlanta Braves shut out for second time in seven days in 4-0 loss to Orioles

In what continues to be very worrying form for this offense, the Atlanta Braves have once again been unable to get much tangible at the plate. They had plenty of chances, but couldn’t capitalize on any of them as the Baltimore Orioles scored four early runs and earned a 4-0 shutout victory over the Braves.

The Braves’ frustration was palpable from the start. Michael Harris II led off tonight’s game with a triple. In happier times for the Braves, it was usually a sign that a big inning was on the way. Instead, the 2-3-4 in Atlanta’s order played out in order from that point on and the inning ended scoreless for the Braves.

The second set was arguably worse for Atlanta as it was essentially the turning point for the rest of the game. Marcell Ozuna led off the second with a walk and was joined on the base paths when Jarred Kelenic initiated a walk with one out. This opened the way for Sean Murphy to hopefully bring home both runners and, to Murphy’s credit, he took a 95 mph fastball from Albert Suárez and hit it at 104 mph right off the tee and 392 feet from left field. If this had happened in 29 other stadiums, it would have been a home run. If this had happened at Camden Yards before 2022, it would have been a home run. Instead, it was just a loud noise, and then Orlando Arcia came out to end the inning in disappointing fashion.

The missed opportunity ended up hurting the Braves immediately, as the Orioles immediately pounced on Max Fried with the next opportunity they had. Anthony Santander fought back from being down 1-2 to convince Fried to come out, Austin Hays singled on a 1-2 count, then Fried threw a jumper to Jorge Mateo while leading 0-2 in the account. Since Mateo hit it in the right part of the ballpark, his ball was a home run and the Orioles had a 3-0 lead at that point in the game.

Both teams sped through the next frames while trading scoreless innings. Atlanta had a little trouble in the sixth inning when Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna hit back-to-back singles to chase Albert Suárez from the game. Jacob Webb entered the game with one out in that frame and closed the door on this scoring opportunity by striking out Adam Duvall and popping out Jarred Kelenic to end the inning.

The wasted opportunity came back to haunt the Braves once again, as this time the first three Orioles batters Fried faced in Baltimore’s half of the sixth inning all reached base. Ryan Mountcastle, Austin Hays single plate, then the other baserunners got an extra base after Kelenic misplayed the ball in the outfield. Just like that, it was 4-0 Orioles and Fried had finished the night with just five innings under his belt.

Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images

With the way things have been going for the Braves lately, you might as well have put this one in the books once Baltimore got up at four. Atlanta had its chances to gain a foothold in this game but as has been the case for a little over a month now, they were unable to string together a series of hits to start a rally. Instead, the story of the night, from Atlanta’s perspective, is that they were simply unable to get a big hit when they needed it most. I’m not a fan of mentioning RISP hitting, but it’s really, really hard for any team to win when they go 0 for 9 at the plate with RISP and also leave 11 on base.

Michael Harris II’s triple to start the game proved to be an omen rather than a good sign of things to come, as the Braves ultimately fell weakly the rest of the game and suffered a 4–0 loss. This is now the second time on this road trip alone that they have been shut out and the third time on this same road trip where they have scored one point or less. This is the same team that was shut out twice in the 2023 season and went a calendar year (May 12, 2023 to June 5, 2024) without being shut out.

Simply put, this offense is in a world of hurt right now and it’s very difficult to win games when almost the entire team is ice cold. It also doesn’t help that the Braves were also terribly unlucky not to get Sean Murphy’s home run in the second inning, but that’s just baseball. Sometimes you get rebounds and sometimes you hit a ball that would be a home run in any other stadium except the one you’re currently playing in. It’s just a fact of life in baseball, just as it’s a fact that the Braves are currently going in the wrong direction and fast.

Atlanta’s next chance to stop the bleeding comes tomorrow night at 6:35 as Spencer Schwellenbach makes his second career big league start against fellow rookie Cade Povich. If the Braves can’t do anything tomorrow, then I don’t know what you want us to tell you at this point, folks.