Kyle Wright sharp for Braves in 4-2 loss to Red Sox

The Atlanta Braves threatened late but were unable to complete a comeback in a 4-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox.

Mike Foltynewicz’s day got off to a rough start and didn’t really get any better. Folty walked Michael Chavis to lead off the game and then allowed a two-run home run to Rafael Devers that cleared the center field wall. The pitch to Devers was low and away but he was able to go down and get it and drive it out of the park.

Folty would then bare down from there and retire the next three hitters in order. However, things would go sideways again in the second. Foltynewicz struck out Marco Hernandez for the first out of the inning but then surrendered back-to-back hits to Rusney Castillo and Jeter Downs. Castillo’s hit bounded off the glove of Dansby Swanson and was hit hard but could have gone as an error. Downs’ grounder was a high chopper that Sean Kazmar fielded but lost his footing before he could make a throw. Nick Longhi then doubled down the right field line to score Castillo to make it 3-0 while bringing an end to Foltynewicz’s day.

Folty struggled a bit with his control landing just 25 of 45 pitches in the strike zone. Still he suffered from a bit of bad luck on Sunday allowing four hits, three runs, and two walks in just 1 1/3 innings.

The Braves got some impressive pitching performances in relief of Foltynewicz. Left-hander Tyler Matzek replaced Folty with two on and one out in the second and escaped with no further damage. He would hold Boston at bay again in the third and would exit after 1 2/3 perfect innings while having struck out four of the five batters he faced.

Kyle Wright is currently competing for one of the Braves final rotation spots and we may start to hear more about him after this outing. Wright replaced Matzek in the fourth and allowed just one hit over three shutout innings while striking out five of the 10 batters that he faced. Wright had the full repertoire working as he showed a good fastball/slider combo along with a nice change up.

Patrick Weigel worked a scoreless seventh, before the Red Sox struck for another run off of Huascar Ynoa in the eighth.

The Braves finally broke through in the ninth against Marcus Walden. Greyson Jenista walked to lead off the inning and moved up to second when Pete Kozma was hit by a pitch. Walden then struck out Trey Harris and got Bryce Ball to fly to center for the second out. That would bring up Braden Shewmake whose opposite field single scored Jenista to make it 4-1. Walden then hit Justin Dean to load the bases and then walked Shea Langeliers to force in Kozma to make it 4-2. Walden was replaced by Enmanuel De Jesus who got Ryan Casteel to fly out to end it.

Boston pitching held Atlanta in check for most of the afternoon. The Braves managed just four hits in the game. Ozzie Albies had a double in three trips to the plate. Ronald Acuña Jr. and Marcell Ozuna were a combined 0-for-6 with three strikeouts.

Atlanta will be back in action Monday evening when they host the Philadelphia Phillies at CoolToday Park.