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The slumping Atlanta Braves offense finally got rolling on Saturday, but the starting pitching let them down in Atlanta's 11-9 loss to the Oakland Athletics.
Braves starter Chris Sale was looking to win his eighth consecutive start, which would have tied the team's all-time high set by Russ Ortiz in 2003, but he instead was rocked for eight earned runs in four innings pitched.
While the Braves offense got him off the hook for the loss, Sale clearly blamed himself per a series of posts by David O'Brien of The Athletic:
“#Braves‘ Chris Sale on his rough day: “Can’t really put your finger on it. Probably a little out of whack, something I’ll look into tomorrow. But just seemed like everything that I’ve done to be successful, just didn’t happen today. Put my team in a tough spot, and here we are.”
“More Chris Sale: ‘There’s no secret, we’ve been in a tough stretch, and then to score 9 runs and have an explosive game offensively, and then kind of put a damper on that, sucks. It’s pretty easy to sum up, there’s one reason we lost this game and he’s sitting here right now.'”
“Always-accountable Chris Sale blamed himself for today's loss, and added: ‘That’s unfortunate, but at least everyone else can kind of see that and go, hey, we’re going in the right direction, there’s just one thing (bad) that happened today.'”
Braves players stepping up amid injuries
The Braves have had to lean on depth in 2024 amid injuries to superstars Ronald Acuna Jr. and Spencer Strider. Sale (despite Saturday's outing) and veteran starting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez has stepped up to say the least.
Also reaching another level to keep the Braves afloat in the National League East is designated hitter Marcell Ozuna.
Ozuna added a home run and four RBIs to his resume against the Athletics, which brings his season totals to 17 homers and 53 RBIs. He
On May 2 of last year, facing his old team, Ozuna decided it was time to get out of the worst slump of his career. That day he went 2-for-4, scoring one run, but it was the next day he unleashed. Batting seventh in the order, Ozuna finished the day going 3-for-5, scoring three of the Braves' runs, while knocking in five, with two homers. The Big Bear had officially made his return.
That series was a significant turnaround for the Braves' designated hitter. Since May 2 of last year, Ozuna has been one of the best hitters in baseball. He's currently tied with his teammate, Matt Olson, for most home runs during that span (54) and four better than Kyle Schwarber, even though he has fewer plate appearances than both. He's also knocked in the most runs (146). Ozuna is also ninth in average, 15th in on-base percentage, and third in slugging, according to FanGraphs.
Hopefully, Ozuna can keep this level of production up for the Braves as they push for a playoff berth.
