Takeaways From Atlanta's Loss to the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday Night

The Atlanta Braves, just like the weather, went a bit cold on offense in this one

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez delivers a pitch against the Chicago White Sox in Chicago's Guaranteed Rate Field / Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves went a bit cold on offense tonight, dropping the middle game in their series against the Chicago White Sox by a score of 3-2 in Chicago's Guaranteed Rate Field.

Here's what you need to know from the contest:

The converted relievers had themselves a pitching duel

Both starters, Chicago's Garrett Crochet and Atlanta's Reynaldo López, spent the last few seasons together in the White Sox bullpen, firing 99 mph fastballs and generally making life miserable for opposing hitters in the late innings.

Turns out, they can make life miserable in the early innings too.

Crochet and López combined to allow only six baserunners across the first five innings, with each pitcher allowing two base hits and a walk. Crochet averaged 97 with his fastball and López "only" 95, shy of their usual bullpen velocity but still enough to flummox opposing hitters.

López set out to establish the fastball early, starting over 70% usage and then slowly ramping up his slider and curveball as the outing progressed. Crochet focused on his fastball early, as well, primarily supplementing that with a slider and a cutter.

Both pitchers completed six innings, with López allowing a single run after a bunt, walk, sacrifice fly, and a flare single that dropped in right field. Crochet came back out for the seventh and gave up a homer to Marcell Ozuna, tying the game at one.

BIG BEAR 🐻#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/6yvt7Fwn3G

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 3, 2024

Final lines for each saw Crochet pitch seven innings with one run on three hits, walking one and striking out eight on 93 pitches (63 strikes). López went six innings, allowing one run on four hits with two walks and five strikeouts on 82 pitches (52 strikes).

A trio of old friends saw some action in this one for Chicago

Former Braves infielders Nicky Lopez (2nd base) and Braden Shewmake (shortstop) manned the middle infield for the White Sox in this one, while outfielder Kevin Pillar pinch-hit for rightfielder Dominic fletcher in the seventh inning, striking out.

Shewmake went 0-2, with Paul DeJong pinch-hitting for him in the 7th inning. Lopez went 1-3, singling in the 5th inning but being left stranded on first by a Martin Maldonado inning-ending strikeout.

Atlanta's offense just couldn't quite push the runs over

With the exception of Marcell Ozuna, who had two home runs to left field, this one can be characterized by missed chances late. Atlanta loaded the bases in the eighth inning with only one out thanks to three straight walks, but hit into a double play to come away from it with no runs. Adam Duvall got into a fly ball after Marcell Ozuna's 7th-inning homer to left; it had an expected batting average of .450 and actually was both hit harder and went farther than Ozuna's homer, but it was caught on the right field warning track for an out. The Braves then got two runners on base with two outs in the 9th inning before a pop fly ended the game not with a bang, but a whimper.

Atlanta finished the game with only five hits, going 0-3 with runners in scoring position and stranding seven runners in this one.

The weather played a factor in this one

It was brutally cold in Chicago for this game, with temperatures on the field at first pitch coming in at 44 degrees and consistently dropping throughout the contest. Several of Atlanta's players wore facemasks and long sleeves, sometimes only identifiable from the front by their choice of accessories.

#OOTD @ronaldacunajr24 | #BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/JLJNQEFR1w

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 2, 2024

Similar to Monday afternoon's game, several hard-hit balls from both teams just didn't want to carry, with Atlanta hitting eight hard-hit balls and getting only three hits out of them. Also, swirling winds played havoc with the reads of the outfielders, with several softly hit batted balls dropping in front of fielders who did their best to track batted balls off the bat but just weren't in the right place to make a catch.

What's next for the Atlanta Braves?

Theoretically, game three of the series is a getaway day contest tomorrow at 1:40 PM ET. I say theoretically because the weather forecast isn't great - there are between two and four inches of snow expected overnight in the Chicago area and more accumulation is expected through Wednesday morning.

A burst of heavy, wet snow will lead to travel impacts across parts of NW Illinois for the evening commute. Additional slushy accumulations will occur across the rest of northern/northeast Illinois late tonight and Wed. AM. #ILwx pic.twitter.com/HGDXSyM6m1

— NWS Chicago (@NWSChicago) April 2, 2024

For what it's worth, manager Brian Snitker told the traveling media that if the Wednesday game was postponed, Spencer Strider would be pushed back to Friday's home opener, with Max Fried taking Saturday's contest.