MILWAUKEE – The Braves were a strike away from winning their first road series.
The Braves led by four runs after three innings, by a run after eight and by a run after 10. The Brewers continued clawing back.
In the ninth, Kolten Wong battled Kenley Jansen before finally ripping a run-scoring triple to tie the score. And luckily for Jansen and the Braves, Dansby Swanson raced back and made a sliding catch that saved the game, as the winning run would have scored without it.
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This was Jansen’s first blown save with the Braves, and it came on his 10th opportunity.
Jansen, who has been terrific this season, walked the leadoff man and eventually saw him steal second. The righty got two outs and then got two quick strikes on Wong before he fell behind in the count.
With a one-run lead, Spencer Strider, who will see more high-leverage spots with Tyler Matzek on the injured list, struck out the side on 11 pitches in the seventh. Will Smith issued a one-out walk in the eighth, but worked around it.
Max Fried allowed three runs on seven hits over six innings. The Brewers strung together three consecutive singles to score two runs in the fourth, and then Fried gave up a run-scoring double in the sixth. He was not his sharpest, as Milwaukee collected seven hits and walked twice, but the lefty preserved the lead provided to him by his offense.
The game had gone so well for the Braves, from getting to reigning National League Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes to their bullpen preserving a one-run lead until the ninth inning.
In the span of a few minutes Wednesday, the Braves’ offense looked like itself. This was not the struggling bunch we have watched at times this season, but the potent group that scratched, clawed and powered its way to a title last season.
In the top of the third inning, Austin Riley hammered a three-run home run off Burnes, then Marcell Ozuna followed with a solo blast. The Braves led, 4-0.
In launching back-to-back home runs for the first time all season, the Braves tagged Burnes for more runs (four) in two batters than he had allowed in any start this season (his previous high was three runs on opening day). Burnes had surrendered only six earned runs in his previous six starts, and entered this contest with a 1.77 ERA that ranked sixth in the majors among qualified pitchers.
