The Braves managed few hits and even fewer runs but did they ever give up their fair share tonight. Possibly the only bright spot came from Max Fried who had another good outing in relief tonight.
The Braves were slow from the start quickly conceding to Jon Gray in the top of the first on only 9 pitches. Then, in the bottom of the first, hits from DJ LeMahieu, Nolan Arenado and Mark Reynolds quickly put the Rockies up 2-0 and they never looked back.
The Rockies added 3 more runs in the bottom of the second off of Braves pitcher Mike Foltynewicz who has been scuffling lately to say the least.
The Braves called on Luke Jackson in the bottom of the fourth inning to no avail and the Rockies were up 11-0 by the end of the fourth after hits by LeMahieu, Parra, Reynolds and Story.
In the bottom of the fifth the Rockies continued to pour it on bringing the score to 14-0 on RBIs from Nolan Arenado and Gerardo Parra.
Finally, in the top of the sixth Brandon Phillips singled after a Max Fried walk and then Freddie Freeman walked to load the bases for Nick Markakis who hit a soft single into center to score 2 making it 14-2.
Max Fried pitched beautifully until the bottom of the seventh when he ran into Trevor Story for a second time. After hits by Mark Reynolds and Jonathan Lucroy, Story unloaded on a high fastball depositing it into the left field bleachers making the score 17-2.
LeMahieu, Arenado, Parra, Reynolds, Story and Lucroy combined to go 17-27 tonight.
The Braves tried many times to get their offense going but for the entirety of this series have looked tired and somewhat disinterested. Lets hope they can realign their focus for the series wrap up tomorrow in which the Braves will look to earn a split with Colorado.
It’s all downhill from here.