Braves complete comeback, hand Diamondbacks another brutal loss

ATLANTA — The Diamondbacks scored six runs before their starter even threw a pitch on Saturday night. They still could not come away with a win. As the Atlanta Braves methodically chipped away at the lead, the Diamondbacks resembled a tiring racehorse struggling to reach the wire.

For the second night in a row, the Diamondbacks battered a talented, accomplished starting pitcher but still wound up losing. As brutal as their loss was the night before, their 9-8 defeat on Saturday was even worse, a sort of Temple of Doom horror scene in which the Braves reached in and removed the Diamondbacks’ still-beating heart.

The throughlines for the losses were not just the blown leads, but also the costliness of the absentees sitting on the injured list, subtractions that cut to the core of the identity the Diamondbacks fashioned for themselves last October.

The Diamondbacks prided themselves on their defense last year, but on Friday night they handed a game away in part because of miscues in the field. It was fair to wonder if a healthy Geraldo Perdomo, who is out with a knee injury, would have made a difference.

Then on Saturday, as the club’s tired bullpen coughed up runs in the late innings, it felt once more like the Diamondbacks were feeling the absence of closer Paul Sewald, who is out with an oblique strain. The bullpen was a dominant force in October, protecting nearly every lead it was given, but Saturday represented the third consecutive game in which the unit struggled late.

“Yeah, there’s a couple of key injuries to this ballclub that have made a difference,” manager Torey Lovullo acknowledged. “It’s showed up in a couple of different ways over the past three or four games.”

He added: “We definitely miss those guys. But we’ve done enough to win baseball games. We’ve just got to find a way to do it.”

The Diamondbacks led 6-0 after a half-inning and 8-2 after 4 1/2 innings.

But the Braves scored three times in the bottom of the sixth off Diamondbacks starter Brandon Pfaadt, twice more in the seventh off reliever Bryce Jarvis and then the tying and go-ahead runs in the eighth off another reliever, Luis Frias.

Pfaadt led 8-2 with two out in the sixth when he left a slider over the plate to Marcell Ozuna, who yanked it out to left for a three-run homer. Pfaadt had attacked him with breaking balls earlier in the game and wanted to do it again, only he missed his location down and away.

“That’s the one pitch I wish I could have back,” Pfaadt said. “Sadly, that’s not possible.”

Lovullo said right-hander Ryan Thompson was unavailable after working three of the past four games, adding that others were available only in specific circumstances. He would have gone to Kevin Ginkel to close it out in the ninth or to lefty Joe Mantiply for a key out to protect a lead but otherwise wanted to avoid them.

That left the heavy lifting to others, and the Braves’ dominant lineup feasted on them. They strung together four consecutive singles off Jarvis in the seventh. They got three hits off Frias in the eighth, taking advantage of a Jake McCarthy error to not just score the tying run but to move the go-ahead run into scoring position.

After Jarred Kelenic doubled to start the inning, Ronald Acuna Jr. shot a single to right, where McCarthy charged in with hopes of cutting down Kelenic at the plate. But he bobbled the ball on the transfer — “I never had it,” he said — and Acuna took second after the ball squirted out of McCarthy’s hands.

“You’re really thinking about the guy going home,” McCarthy said, “but then you make an error there and the guy gets to second and ends up being the winning run, it’s obviously frustrating.”

Acuna moved to third on a ground out and Austin Riley shot a single through the drawn-in infield to put the Braves in front.

“We’ve got to do things a little bit better,” Lovullo said. “Today, it was clearly some of the pitches that we made. We’ve got to tighten that up.

“I looked up there at one point and I think there was four hits. Then all of a sudden when the game was close to being over there was 15 or 16 hits. That speaks for itself.”

On Friday, the Diamondbacks scored four runs in five innings off Braves right-hander Spencer Strider. On Saturday, it was lefty Max Fried who got knocked around early. While the Diamondbacks scored only twice more the rest of the game, Lovullo felt that should have sufficed.

“I like to believe eight is always enough,” Lovullo said. “It should be enough.”

DBacks still 'gathering information' on Geraldo Perdomo injury

ATLANTA — Geraldo Perdomo underwent an MRI on Saturday morning, but the Diamondbacks did not offer a health update yet on their shortstop.

“We're still gathering up all the information and trying to figure out the best game plan to move this ball forward,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said.

The club is still waiting to have the imaging examined by multiple doctors, General Manager Mike Hazen said.

Perhaps encouragingly, Perdomo said his knee felt better on Saturday than it did on Friday. He said the swelling in it had subsided somewhat.

Lovullo said Perdomo was available off the bench in an emergency, though it seems unlikely the club would actually use him at this point.

Sunday's DBacks-Braves pitching matchup

DBacks at Braves, 10:35 a.m., Cox, Ch. 34

Diamondbacks RHP Ryne Nelson (0-1, 13.50) vs. Braves LHP Chris Sale (0-0, 3.38).

At Truist Park: Nelson turned in a strong spring training, executing his secondary pitches more and overpowering hitters with his fastball, but he struggled to carry that over into his first start of the season, giving up five runs (four earned) in 2 2/3 innings against the Yankees. … Nelson got two whiffs on his slider and two more on his change-up but did not elicit a swing and miss on his fastball, a first for him. In each of his previous 32 career appearances, he had gotten at least one whiff on his fastball. …  He has faced the Braves twice before, giving up five runs in 11 2/3 innings. 3B Austin Riley and DH Marcell Ozuna have each homered off him. … Sale’s six-year tenure with the Red Sox came to an end with an offseason trade to the Braves. He got off to a good start with his new team, giving up two runs in 5 1/3 innings against the Phillies in his first start. … He pitched against the Diamondbacks last season, giving up one run in five innings in a start in May. … He averaged 94.9 mph with his fastball vs. the Phillies and otherwise leaned mostly on his slider, mixing in the occasional change-up.

Coming up

Monday: At Colorado, 5:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Zac Gallen (2-0, 0.82) vs. Rockies LHP Kyle Freeland (0-2, 27.00).

Tuesday: At Colorado, 5:40 p.m., Diamondbacks RHP Merrill Kelly (1-0, 1.98) vs. Rockies RHP Cal Quantrill (0-1, 9.00).

Wednesday: At Colorado, 12:10 p.m., Diamondbacks LHP Tommy Henry (0-1, 7.00) vs. Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (0-0, 6.23).

What to know about the Atlanta Braves

The Braves, fresh off a 104-win 2023 season, enter the new year regarded as one of the better teams in baseball. They took two of three from the Philadelphia Phillies, then split two games against the White Sox. They have one of the best lineups in baseball, led by reigning MVP Ronald Acuna Jr., who is 6 for 19 (.316) with a double and four walks so far this year. LF Jarred Kelenic, one of the Braves' offseason additions, is 6 for 11 (.545) with a double and two walks. Another new addition is LHP Chris Sale, who gave up two runs in 5 1/3 innings in his first start.