Braves go 0 for 14 with men in scoring position in tough loss to Cubs

Five observations:

1. Travis d’Arnaud’s passed ball allowed a point to be scored. The pop-up thrown by Zack Short put a runner on base – and that guy then scored. Marcell Ozuna attempted to advance from second base to third base on a grounder right in front of him and was caught in a rundown.

The Braves made mistakes. But they could have overcome them.

In a one-run loss, they were 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position. They left 10 men on base.

“It’s just one of those things where eventually we’re going to have some big success,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Guys, when (they) find themselves in situations like this, they stand up and human nature is probably to try too hard, instead of relaxing and just letting things flow. They all want to be the guy to do it.

The Braves scored twice in the first inning, then again in the fourth inning. On a hot night, with the wind blowing, they seemed ready for an offensive blast. And they carried out actions on the bases.

They just couldn’t make it count.

In the bottom of the 10th, the Cubs’ Nico Hoerner hit a chopper to the right side that scored the winning run as it didn’t allow the Braves to get home.

2. Two situations stand out – one in the seventh inning, the other in the 10th inning.

In the top of the seventh, the Braves put the first two men on base. The Cubs made a pitching change, opting for Mark Leiter Jr., a right-hander who is particularly tough on lefties.

Matt Olson (left-handed hitter): Strikeout.

D’Arnaud: Crossed out.

Michael Harris II (left-handed hitter): Strikeout.

“He’s tough on lefties, that’s for sure,” Snitker said. “It’s like there’s a left-handed killer out there.”

In the top of the 10th, with the runner on second base to start the inning, the Braves made three straight outs. Ozuna made a baserunning error, but it didn’t matter as the Braves couldn’t muster a hit.

“We just didn’t do a very good job with guys in scoring position,” Snitker said. “We needed to get some hits, and that’s been hard to come by lately.”

Added Short: “I think they were just executed. I would take our lineup over anyone’s bullpen 100 days out of 100. We’ll get to that tomorrow.

3. The Braves had a one-run lead when Daysbel Hernández – officially called up Tuesday morning – entered the game. The leadoff batter threw a ball behind third base.

Short settled under it, then let it fall. It came from his glove. The runner reached second base, then eventually scored the tying run.

“I just missed it,” Short said. “This can’t happen. It’s not fair that the other guys on this team are struggling in this situation. This simply cannot happen.

Again: this mistake was costly, but it’s not the reason the Braves lost. They could have won this game with one or two big extra base hits.

4. Darius Vines began warming up in the bullpen as Charlie Morton worked through the second inning. The Braves need a starting pitcher for their games on Thursday and Friday, and Vines could potentially be a candidate for one of the games if he isn’t used before then.

It looked like Morton might post a second straight short start — which would have been debilitating considering the Braves’ pitching staff is depleted during this stretch of 17 games in 17 days (not including Saturday’s postponement). So, Vines began preparing in the bullpen.

The Braves never needed him.

Morton threw 56 pitches in two innings, then 38 over the next three. Somehow he managed to get through five while allowing two runs – and only one of them was earned.

“Oh, it’s huge,” d’Arnaud said. “Especially having 17 in a row (with no days off), so he can keep fighting, without having his best assets, and keep us there in the game – without having his best assets, like I have said, it’s really rare… He’s not going to give in. He keeps fighting and keeps fighting.

Morton saved the bullpen, and perhaps his team. Short starts can have a very negative impact throughout a certain series of matches.

What if Morton hadn’t gone through five frames?

“It would have been, ‘What are we doing on Thursday?'” d’Arnaud said. “It would have been a huge headache.”

5. We’ll use the latter as a palate cleanser, because there was some good that evening:

Stat to know

.282, .782 – Even after going 0 for 14 with men in scoring position, the Braves are hitting .282 in those spots – the fifth-best mark in baseball. Their .782 OPS in those situations ranks seventh.

Quotable

“They executed. They won today. They got a few extra bases for free – including one from me – and they took advantage of that, and they were able to win because of that. -d’Arnaud

Following

On Wednesday, we’ll have a matchup between the two teams’ top pitchers: Braves’ Max Fried will face Cubs left-hander Justin Steele. First pitch is at 7:40 p.m.