There wasn’t any rain to stop or delay the game at Truist Park on Sunday night, but Dustin May couldn’t slow down Austin Riley, which resulted in the Los Angeles Dodgers having their seven-game winning streak snapped with a 4-3 loss to the Atlanta Braves.
Alex Verdugo and Riley made for a potent duo that carried the Braves’ offense. After Verdugo worked a leadoff walk in the bottom of the first inning, Riley crushed a two-run home run 426 feet to left-center field.
In the third inning, Verdugo’s leadoff single set the table for Riley’s second homer of the game. It also came on a May sweeper, and traveled 416 feet to center field.
May otherwise allowed just three singles as he managed to get through 5.2 innings. He retired 10 of the last 11 batters faced, with only Marcell Ozuna reaching during that stretch on a hit by pitch.
The deficit was hardly insurmountable but it proved to be just enough for the Braves to hang on for a win. May exited with the Dodgers trailing 4-1.
Max Muncy, who had an RBI double earlier in the game, cut the Dodgers’ deficit in half in the top of the sixth inning on a groundout that scored Freddie Freeman. It was their only run in the inning despite putting the first two batters on.
The Dodgers drew closer in the seventh inning on Miguel Rojas’ first pinch-hit home run of his career. That put a magnifying glass on Braves manager Brian Snitker’s pitching decision to replace Pierce Johnson with Dylan Lee.
Rather than leave Michael Conforto in for the left-on-left matchup, Dodgers manager used Rojas as a pinch-hitter. Conforto was 0-for-2 with two strikeouts and now is hitless in his last eight games.
After Rojas’ homer, Lee then gave up a double to Shohei Ohtani, prompting another pitching change for Atlanta. Mookie Betts grounded out to end the inning.
The Dodgers left the tying run in scoring position in the ninth after Andy Pages led off with a single and pinch-runner Hyeseong Kim stole second base.
Kim then aggressively took third base when the Braves threw down to first on a dropped strike three.
Dodgers record vs. Braves
The Dodgers won six of seven against the Braves this season, falling just short of two series sweeps.
Thus, the Dodgers have not swept the Braves on the road since July 26-28, 2018.
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