Braves Bats Go Cold, Fall to Even With Mets for Final Wild Card Spot

The Atlanta Braves bats go cold against the Colorado Rockies and now find themselves even with the New York Mets for the final Wild Card Spot.

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez saw his gem against the Colorado Rockies go to waste. / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Braves fell to the Colorado Rockies 3-1 to drop the series finale. They lost out on a chance to sweep and saw the idle New York Mets draw even for the third and final Wild Card spot.

Three of their five hits on the night came in the bottom of the first inning, including their only run on the night. Ramon Laureano drove in Jorge Soler and that was all she wrote. 

“Just frustrating we couldn’t score,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Especially when we have another good start.”

Reynaldo Lopez was electric, pitching six innings of two-run ball giving up five hits and no walks while striking out a career high 11 batters. Braves pitchers as a whole struck out 45 batters over the course of the series. This is a new franchise record for strikeouts over three games. 

Lopez wasn't too keen on hyping up his career high after ended up in the loss column. 

“As nice as it is to strike out guys and to go deep into the game, ultimately, it’s for nothing if you don’t win the game at the end of the day,” he said.

His Rockies counterpart, Austin Gomber, pitched eight innings of one-run ball. Even when it’s not at Coors Field, a rough night against the Rockies pitching can sting a bit. Gomber lowered his ERA to 4.50 with the outing and improved his record to 5-10.

They had their chances early, but Gomber got settled in and shut them down. 

“We always want to stay aggressive,” Braves first baseman Matt Olson said. “Sometimes you are going to have those innings and it came back to bite us today.”

For the 24th consecutive game, a Braves starter has allowed three runs or fewer. Yet it’s another strong outing that went to waste. Makes you wonder where this team could be if they were a little more consistent - or had reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr.

If it wasn’t for the inconsistent play and urgency to keep their heads above water long enough to make the playoffs, maybe we could go easier on them for not getting a sweep. Sweeps are hard, but they haven’t given themselves the leeway. 

The Braves return to action on Friday when they start their series with the Toronto Blue Jays. First pitch is set for 7:20 p.m. with Max Fried scheduled to take the mound for Atlanta. The Blue Jays are 67-74, have lost three-in-a-row and are well out of contention for an AL Wild Card spot.

The Braves need to take advantage of a team that's now just running out the ground ball.