Braves’ offense goes quiet in 4-1 loss to Phillies

The offense fell silent for the Atlanta Braves in a 4-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies Saturday.

The game got off to a sloppy start for the Braves. Andrew McCutchen reached first on an infield single to Austin Riley. He then moved up to second as a pitch bounced off of Tyler Flowers’ mitt for a passed ball. Tomlin then got Rhys Hoskins to fly out to right with the first out with McCutchen tagging and moving up to third. He would score the game’s first run on a sacrifice fly by Bryce Harper to make it 1-0.

Tomlin cruised through the next three innings but ran into trouble in the fifth when he walked Andrew Knapp to lead off the inning. Knapp moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt by Adam Haseley and then to third on a single by McCutchen. Tomlin would get ahead 1-2 in the count but would leave a fastball out over the plate that Hoskins drove out to center for a three-run home run to extend the lead to 4-0.

It is hard to be too upset at Tomlin who held Philadelphia at bay and probably shouldn’t go three times through an order. He would exit having allowed five hits and four runs, although only three were earned, in 4 1/3 innings.

The Braves finally got on the board in the sixth when Johan Camargo connected on a 1-1 pitch for a long home run to right.

Atlanta’s only other highlight came in the seventh when Nick Markakis passed Babe Ruth on the all-time doubles list with the 507th two-bagger of his career. Markakis moves into sole possession of 58th place on the all-time list.

The game entered into a 38-minute rain delay with two outs in the home half of the seventh with Harper at the plate. Grant Dayton replaced Tyler Matzek after the delay and retired Harper on a diving catch by Ronald Acuña Jr. in center.

The Braves threatened in the ninth as Dansby Swanson worked a one out walk against Brandon Workman and Freddie Freeman followed with an opposite field single. That would bring Marcell Ozuna to the plate who just missed a hanging breaking ball flying out to center. Workman then got Markakis to line out on a diving stab by Hoskins at first to end the game.

Other than Camargo’s blast, Atlanta was unable to generate any offense against Zach Eflin who turned in his best performance of the season. Eflin was lights out allowing just four hits and one run over seven innings. He struck out eight and didn’t walk anyone.

Matzek gave the Braves another quality outing out of the bullpen allowing two hits while striking out three over 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

Atlanta will try to avoid a sweep when the two teams wrap up the series on Sunday.