Braves Get Walked Off By Mariners After Pitcher's Duel in Seattle

The Atlanta Braves and Seattle Mariners saw their starters duel late, but Seattle came through with the big hit when it mattered most.

Seattle Mariners starter Bryce Miller took his perfect game into the 6th inning against the Atlanta Braves on Monday night. / Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports

The Atlanta Braves got walked off in the 9th inning by the Seattle Mariners, 2-1, after a pitcher’s duel went to the bullpens late.    

Here’s what you need to know about from the contest.

Starting pitching was SUPERB

Continuing a recent trend, the starting pitching in this one was excellent. Bryce Miller had a perfect game going until Travis d’Arnaud drew a walk in the 6th, while Max Fried took his no-hitter through seven complete innings when he gave way to the Atlanta pen. 

Bryce Miller finished after seven innings, allowing one run on two hits, walking one and striking out ten on 97 pitches (64 strikes). Fried went six scoreless and hitless innings (extending his scoreless streak to sixteen innings), walking two and striking out seven on 100 pitches (59 strikes). 

Max Fried, Nasty 87mph Slider. 😨

7th K. pic.twitter.com/u9HZQy6Ds2

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 30, 2024

Ronald Acuña Jr. may not be hitting homers, but it’s not the knee

Ronald Acuña Jr. tweaked his surgically repaired knee in spring training, missing about a week of action and getting only a few games to re-acclimate before the season started. 

Correspondingly, he’s been mired in one of the slowest starts of his career, with his second-lowest monthly slugging percentage and worst homer rate of his career. 

But Ronald’s legs are fine - the outfielder put up Atlanta’s first run in a predictable way for those who watched Braves games last season - he singled his way on in the 7th inning, stole both 2nd and 3rd, and was driven in by Ozzie Abies.   

.@ronaldacunajr24 on the base path 🔥#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/AXvga0wU6y

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 30, 2024

On the season, Acuña’s 13 stolen bases are tied for 2nd in all of baseball. 

The Braves pen held...until it didn’t

Pierce Johnson replaced Fried for the 7th and got through his inning without incident, striking out the side. Joe Jiménez, on for the eighth, took Atlanta on an adventure in his outing. Jiménez ended up loading the bases with one out in the inning, giving up two hits and a walk, but got Julio Rodríguez to fly out to shallow left field and struck out Mitch Haniger to strand all three runners. 

But in the 9th inning, Raisel Iglesias wasn’t available - the Braves closer pitched in both extra-innings games against the Cleveland Guardians over the weekend (Saturday and Sunday), so A.J. Minter got the call. Jorge Polanco singled to open the inning before Mitch Garver put a 3-2 elevated cutter into the left field seats for the walkoff victory, a rare stumble for the uber-reliable Minter.

What’s next for the Atlanta Braves?

The Braves are right back at it tomorrow, sending Reynaldo López to the mound against Mariners veteran Luis Castillo. First pitch is scheduled for 9:40 PM ET and can be seen on Bally Sports South.