Braves come up short in 2-1 loss to Padres

Marcell Ozuna homered, but the Atlanta Braves were unable to generate anymore offense in a 2-1 loss to the San Diego Padres.

Bryce Elder worked around two walks in the first, but was able to escape. He ran into trouble again in the second as Ha-Seong Kim and C.J. Abrams both singled with one out. Elder then walked Trent Grisham to load the bases and then hit Austin Nola to bring home the first run. Jake Cronenworth then grounded to Ozzie Albies who flipped to second, but Cronenworth beat Dansby Swanson’s relay throw to prevent the double play. Abrams scored on the play to make it 2-0.

The Braves were unable to generate any offense off of Yu Darvish with the exception of Matt Olson who had a first inning single and a fourth inning double. Darvish then hit Austin Riley in the hand to put runners at first and second, but retired Marcell Ozuna, Travis d’Arnaud and Alex Dickerson in order to strand them.

Elder pitched around two more walks in the fourth and retired Manny Machado to start the fifth before Eric Hosmer singled. That would end Elder’s night as he would give way to Spencer Strider who got Jurickson Profar to ground into a 3-6-1 double play to end the inning.

Elder wasn’t his sharpest but he did a good job of limiting the damage. He allowed three hits and two runs over 4 1/3 innings. He walked five and struck out three while throwing 89 pitches.

The Braves finally got on the board in the seventh when Marcell Ozuna connected for a solo home run off of Darvish to lead off the inning making it 2-1.

Following the homer, Darvish struck out d’Arnaud and got Dickerson to ground out before Adam Duvall doubled into the left field corner. That would be it for Darvish who was replaced by right-hander Steven Wilson. Wilson got Eddie Rosario to fly out to center on the first pitch to end the inning.

Darvish bounced back from a rough outing in his last start allowing just four hits and one run over 6 2/3 innings. He struck out eight and didn’t walk anyone while throwing 96 pitches.

Strider held the Padres in check and gave the Braves a chance with 3 2/3 scoreless innings. He walked three and struck out three while throwing 61 pitches.

Taylor Rogers sat the Braves down in order in the ninth to seal the win.

Atlanta managed just four hits on the evening and were 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position in the game. Their road trip will continue Monday when they begin a three-game series against Freddie Freeman and the Dodgers.