The Atlanta Braves tried to mount a late comeback but came up just short falling to the San Diego Padres 3-2 in the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader.
Kyle Muller wasn’t his sharpest but he limited the damage and gave the Braves a chance to win. Muller worked around a single and walk in the first, set the side down in order in the second and then worked around back-to-back walks in the third but retired Jake Cronenworth and Manny Machado to keep things scoreless.
Padres starter Chris Paddack was up to the task as well. He sat the Braves down in order in the first and pitched around a two-out single by Guillermo Heredia in the second. Kevan Smith led off the third with a single but Paddack set the next three Atlanta hitters down in order to keep things scoreless.
San Diego finally broke through against Muller in the fourth. Jurickson Profar doubled and then moved over to third on Muller’s second wild pitch of the game. Ha-Seong Kim followed with a sacrifice fly to Heredia in center that scored Profar to make it 1-0. Muller then struck out Webster Rivas to end the inning.
That would be it for Muller who would exit having allowed two hits, three walks and one run over four innings. He threw 87 pitches with 50 going for strikes.
Shane Greene’s struggles continued in the fifth. He struck out Paddack to begin the inning but then issued a free pass to Tommy Pham. Fernando Tatis Jr. followed with his 29th home run of the season to increase the deficit to 3-0. Greene then got Cronenworth to ground out before Machado followed with a double. Wil Myers flew out to end the inning with no further damage.
Atlanta got the lead off man on in the bottom half of the inning as Arcia reached on a throwing error by Machado. However, Atlanta couldn’t do anything with it as Paddack sat the next three down in order.
Paddack would give way to a pinch hitter in the sixth and was solid. He allowed three hits over five scoreless innings. He had one strikeout and no walks while throwing 77 pitches.
The Braves’ offense finally showed some signs of life against the Padres’ bullpen in the sixth. Freddie Freeman singled with one out off of Drew Pomeranz and then advanced to third on a double by Ozzie Albies. Freeman came home with Atlanta’s first run on a passed ball to make it 3-1. Austin Riley then lifted a sacrifice fly to center that scored Albies to make it 3-2.
Edgar Santana allowed three hits in the sixth but escaped without a run scoring and then mowed San Diego down in the seventh.
However, the Braves were unable to mount any offense against Mark Melancon in the seventh as he retired them in order to end the game.
With the loss, Atlanta drops to 46-48 on the season. The second game of Wednesday’s doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 5:20 p.m. ET. Bryse Wilson will be on the mound for the Braves while Reiss Knehr will get the start for San Diego.