ATLANTA — A few days ago, the Braves took the field trying to extend an eight-game winning streak.
They will head out there Sunday attempting to snap a three-game losing streak.
The Braves on Saturday lost to the Astros, 6-3, at Truist Park. Houston took the series from Atlanta, which will try to avoid the sweep in the finale.
Five observations on the loss:
— 1. Kyle Wright’s outing began with five scoreless innings, and he battled to reach that point.
In the sixth, he unraveled a bit as Houston scored four runs — three of them earned. This big inning swung the game.
“I should be the type of pitcher that’s gonna look at the first five, but it’s just hard not to look at that sixth inning and see what I could have done better, how I could have made better pitches,” Wright said. “That’s something that I’m gonna try to look at both, but it really stinks when you end it like that.”
Wright might’ve been too hard on himself. In reality, he hung a curveball to Yordan Alvarez, who sent it to the top of the Chop House in right field for his second two-run homer in as many days. Two batters later, Kyle Tucker hit a curveball below the strike zone for another two-run homer. (Eli White almost caught it, but it went a bit too far.)
It only took a couple batters, and a few minutes, to sour what had been a great start.
“I think it just comes down to, you gotta finish,” Wright said. “I knew that sixth was likely going to be my last inning, so I think that’s where you gotta know when it’s time to empty the tank and find a way to finish and end. So I just think I did a poor job of finishing, so that’s something that I’ve gotta be better on the next (outing).”
— 2. Before Tucker homered, Vaughn Grissom committed an error on a ball hit right at him — his second error of the night. It turned into an extra run.
With two outs in the top of the ninth, a ball kicked off Ozzie Albies, who was running to his left, for the Braves’ third error. The next batter singled to score another run and put Atlanta at a three-run deficit.
“You can’t make mistakes,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “I mean, you can’t give extra outs against good teams because that thing just keeps rolling around, and you get to the teeth of their lineup again.”
These plays are magnified against talented teams like Houston, which often take advantage of them.
“Errors are going to happen,” Albies said. “You’ve just got to go to the next page and if it passed already, just make sure it doesn’t happen next time — you know what you’ve got to do to catch that ball. It’s part of the game.”
— 3. Astros starter Framber Valdez held Atlanta to three runs over seven innings.
Even still, the Braves put good swings on the ball. Of 20 balls put in play versus Valdez, 11 had an exit velocity of at least 100 mph. Six of those 11 became outs.
Could this have gone another way on a different night?
“Yes, because we put the barrel on the ball — it just didn’t end up being a base hit,” Albies said. “There’s been a guy there for 100 years and you hit it right at him, you can’t do anything.”
— 4. Valdez entered the sixth inning at 51 pitches, a rarity these days. The Braves were aggressive early in counts.
They felt it imperative.
“You can see it. He gets in his groove,” Albies said. “You see him walking, doing his thing, he’s coming right at you. You’ve got to be ready to go right back at him.”
Over two games in this series, the Braves have not scored against the Astros’ bullpen in 6 1/3 innings.
“The bullpen is as good as it gets. They got numbers,” Snitker said. “Valdez, he’s a horse, man. You play against him and all, he always is going deep into games and he competes really well, and can reach back and get more. We got back close, but it’s just, they’ve got a really good ballclub and a really good bullpen.”
— 5. Marcell Ozuna received some heavy boos after a couple of his at-bats. He went 0 for 3, bringing his average down to .078.
“I keep thinking of what I saw in the spring and you just kind of hope that at some point, he’s going to square a couple of balls up and get on a run,” Snitker said. “Obviously, we’d like it sooner than later but if (he) just keeps fighting and making adjustments and making good use of the time that you’re going to have, hopefully something good comes of it.”
Stat to know
3 — Ronald Acuña Jr. stole three bases, a career high.
Quotable
“I mean, we’re a good club. We’ve played right there neck and neck with them. We knew it would be a tough series coming in. It’s every bit of what I expected, that’s for sure.” — Snitker
Up next
In Sunday’s series finale, left-hander Max Fried will face Houston righty Cristian Javier. First pitch is at 1:30 p.m.
