These days, any time the Dodgers lose, it’s news. The team has won 31 of its last 35 games, and 18 of its last 19 at home, the Associated Press reports. Coming into Thursday’s game, the opener of a four game stretch against the Braves, LA was riding an 11-game winning streak.
It’s doubly newsworthy when the Dodgers, who hold baseball’s best record (66-30), lose to the likes of the Atlanta Braves, who are 42-45 (.483) on the year, and 4-3 since the All-Star break.
But on Thursday night, Braves starter Mike Foltynewicz, who is 5-0 with a 3.33 ERA in his last nine starts, contributed another solid outing, and LA’s Brandon McCarthy continued to struggle. The end result was a 6-3 victory for the Braves, and the Dodgers’ second loss of July.
Foltynewicz allowed three runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings.
”I got away with some mistakes here and there tonight, and I made some good pitches, too,” he said. ”So overall a good night.”
Braves manager Brian Snitker was a little more openly complimentary: “Really good job,” he said of Foltynewicz’s performance. “He had good stuff, was on the attack. It looked like he had a lot of confidence in what he was doing.”
The man who took the hill for the Dodgers had a different kind of night. McCarthy threw just 4 innings of baseball, yielding six runs on nine hits. He has given up 15 earned runs in 17 2/3 innings over his last four starts, for a cumulative ERA of 7.64 and an average of 4.3 innings per start. After Wednesday’s game, Dodgers’ manager Dave Roberts was non-committal as to whether McCarthy would make his next scheduled start.
In his first twelve outings of the year, McCarthy averaged 5.75 innings per start and posted a 2.87 ERA.
Something has changed. Roberts blames a blister, but McCarthy, a 12-year MLB veteran, thinks otherwise. The pitcher says he has had the blister since Spring, and that it has had but a minor effect on his performance.
“Weirdly enough, I thought it was the best I’ve thrown in months,” McCarthy said.
The Braves’ hitters offered evidence to the contrary. Atlanta posted two runs in the top of the first. Freddy Freeman drove in Ender Inciarte, who led off with a single and advanced to second on a weak groundout to the left side of the infield, with a single to right. After another single by Matt Kemp, Matt Adams smashed a ground rule double down the left field line, scoring Kemp. The Braves stranded Adams at third.
Freeman picked up his second RBI on another single in the third, and in the fourth, Kurt Suzuki slammed a dinger down the left field line after Nick Markakis walked on a full count. Inciarte picked up an RBI single to cap off a three-run fourth, and the Braves took a 6-1 lead.
LA couldn’t get traction against Foltynewicz. In the bottom of the first, Corey Seager scored on a Cody Bellinger single, and in the sixth, Yasmani Grandal hit a 1-out, two-run shot to bring the Dodgers within three.
But Rex Brothers retiring two straight after relieving Foltynewicz with one out in the seventh. Arodys Vizcaino got the Dodgers in order in the eighth, and closer Jim Johnson threw a shutout ninth despite a leadoff double from Grandal. Johnson recorded his 22nd save of the year.
Freddy Freeman, who exited Wednesday’s game in the fourth inning with an illness of which was still feeling the effects Thursday, went 2-4 with two RBI and a run.
“Big, definitely,” Freeman said of the Braves’ first win after dropping three straight to the Cubs.
“I guess we’ll have to start another [streak] tomorrow,” said Roberts.
Tonight at 10:10 ET, former Brave Alex Wood, (11-0, 1.56 ERA) is scheduled to face Jaime Garcia (3-7, 4.33 ERA) in the series’ second game.. Garcia may be replaced as Atlanta looks to make moves before the trade deadline.
