In a pitching duel at Oracle Park, it was the Braves who faltered, leaving Chris Sale on the hook for a loss despite a good performance in a way that’s frustrating and familiar.
Sage or something stronger may be needed to get the stink of this team, both bats AND gloves. Generally, the Braves were hitting the ball well… to a perfectly placed Giant playing effortless and Ron Washington-coached defense. The Giants, in turn, were hitting bloops and seeing-eye singles that found grass every. Single. Time.
The good? Ha-Seong Kim worked another walk. It was apparently a beautiful and clear day in San Francisco. Chris Sale threw the fastest pitch he’s ever recorded since 2018. But otherwise? Yikes.
Sale and Robbie Ray went toe-to-toe in throwing up zeroes for the first half. Ray’s perfect game bid was broken up in the sixth inning with an Eli White single. Sale worked around traffic and stranded Giants runners effectively until the bottom of the sixth.
The Braves’ best chance to draw first blood came in the top of the sixth when White’s leadoff single and stolen base, the aforementioned HSK walk, and Michael Harris II productive out to get the runners to second and third. But Ozzie Albies groundout would send us to the cursed bottom of the sixth.
A particularly annoying Luis Arraez single followed by another by Heliot Ramos would set the table for Rafael Devers. He wouldn’t homer here, but he would single on a ground ball to Austin Riley, who then overthrew it over to first. The error allowed a run to score and for Ramos to get to third. Sale would get two swinging strikeouts, but be burned again by his own defense when Ozzie had a throwing error of his own on a play that should’ve ended the inning and instead made it 2-0 Giants.
Sale’s afternoon concluded with six innings pitched, eight hits, two runs (one unearned), one walk, and ten strikeouts. He was relieved by Didier Fuentes, who allowed a single to pinch-hitter Drew Gilbert, a double to Matt Chapman, and a sac fly to Arraez to make it 3-0. After walking Ramos, he was lifted in favor of Dylan Lee, who ended the threat.
And lo, the scoring drought would end in the eighth. Ray got his own taste of his defense making mistakes. Eli White reached on a Chapman error and got to third after a Mauricio Dubón double. But Harris II sac fly would be all they get to make it 3-1 Giants. Robbie Ray’s final line? 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R (unearned), 1 BB, and 2 K. And he did it in 95 pitches (in contrast to Sale’s 94 pitches). Tyler Kinley pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth.
And as we’ve heard before, the Braves may not always win, but they’ll give you a finish. Matt Olson would make it interesting with a double in the ninth, advancing to third on a groundout, and then scoring on a groundout to make it 3-2. Walt Weiss turned to Dom Smith with one out left. He singled and was replaced with pinch-runner Jorge Mateo, who did his job to steal second. The script was scripting for pinch-hitter Mike Yastrzemski to deliver against his former team. But it wasn’t to be.
California was not good to the Braves. Good riddance to 2026 Pacific Time baseball. But the Delta plane awaits to bring them back home where the Cardinals and Mendoza-less Mets await. Here’s to hoping for better results as we flip the calendar to July later this week.
