Braves slam D-Backs in series opener
First came the lasers, one after another off the bats of Atlanta Braves hitters. Then came the mistakes, defensive miscues that prolonged an already unsightly inning. Just when it seemed like the season couldn’t get any uglier for the Diamondbacks, they have a half inning like the top of the fifth on Monday night.
As the Braves built a seven-run fifth, an inning they rode to an 11-4 victory, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo sat in the dugout and stewed. He did not air out his team between innings because, he explained later, he already has “played that card a few times.” Besides, he said, they know just by looking at him how he felt.
“I’m dying on the inside,” Lovullo said. “I know everybody is sharing that thought with me.”
Early on, the Diamondbacks had kept pace with the team atop the National League East. They were hitting balls hard and running the bases aggressively. Their starter, Humberto Mejia, had limited damage. They had looked sharp in the field. They led, 3-2, after four innings.
It all went out the window in the fifth. Jorge Soler (double), Freddie Freeman (double), Ozzie Albies (single) and Austin Riley (double) chased Mejia from the game. Adam Duvall greeted reliever Taylor Widener by demolishing the third pitch he saw for a 483-foot homer to the concourse in left-center field.
Before it was all over, third baseman Ildemaro Vargas and and second baseman Ketel Marte would commit errors, Diamondbacks pitchers would throw 51 pitches and the Braves would send 12 batters to the plate.
Hours before nearly every game, Diamondbacks position players are on the field taking ground balls and catching fly balls, putting in the work they hope will lead to improvement. And yet too often the same mistakes seem to surface.
“Look, I think these guys need to manage themselves,” Lovullo said. “They need to edit themselves in those situations and find a way to draw a line in the sand and say, no, it’s not going to happen and I’m going to make my plays and I’m going to be the guy who turns this inning around. I’m going to do something spectacular. I’m going to stand on a pitch and deliver it. I’m going to be the guy.
“They know what I’m thinking. They know the frustration I’m feeling. Everybody is. The whole dugout is. They are on the field. I think these guys have got to check themselves, edit themselves and step up and get it done.”
Mejia gave up hard contact early in the game but had managed to keep the Diamondbacks in it. Lovullo wondered if Mejia had become fatigued by the time the fifth rolled around; Mejia said that wasn’t the case. He instead thought he just paid a price for not attacking hitters as aggressively as he did earlier in the game.
The Diamondbacks, at least, had one memorable moment: In the seventh, rookie Jake McCarthy connected for his first career home run, a pinchhit shot off right-hander Richard Rodriguez.
The loss dropped them to 48-102. With 12 games remaining, they need four more wins to avoid tying the 2004 Diamondbacks for the worst record in franchise history.