LOS ANGELES — In the visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium, the silence was noticeable. The Braves, saddled with the disappointment of still being winless, readied to board the cross-country flight that would not get them home until the next morning. In silence, players packed up. Some were on their phones. Others had headphones on.
Not long before that, they had walked off the field and into the dugout tunnel as Shohei Ohtani rounded the bases after blasting a walk-off homer off Raisel Iglesias in the bottom of the ninth to complete the Dodgers’ comeback.
This was a brutal end to a horrific trip: The Braves blew a five-run lead, lost by a score of 6-5 and still are the only winless team in the major leagues. And to go with that, they are 0-7, and no team in history has ever started with that record and gone on to make the postseason.
“I don’t wish this on anybody honestly,” Braves manager Brian Snitker of the hellish road trip. “In a competitive arena and what we’re going through, it was tough. Very tough. And everybody knows it. That’s the thing: Those guys in there (in the clubhouse) are more aware of it than y’all are, and they feel it more. And it’s hard. And there’s nothing you can do but just continue to fight your way out of it and show up. That was a more real game than we’ve played in, I think, six days or whatever. It’s a shame that we lost it. But, you know what, that’s up to us. We had it there, and we couldn’t finish the deal.”
The Braves had most of the ingredients for victory: They scored five runs — with the help of a couple of errors — off Blake Snell. Bryce Elder, their own starter, preserved the lead. The bullpen did its part until the eighth inning.
The one part missing: The offense couldn’t add onto its lead. And it cost the Braves their first win. Iglesias was on the mound when the game ended, but this game was lost in the batter’s box during important spots.
“It’s not on him whatsoever,” Austin Riley said of Iglesias. “It’s not on him. He’s pitched one time in six days and then you ask him to go out there and get five outs. That’s tough. It’s not on him whatsoever.”
After the game, Riley was noticeably angry — in his own quiet manner. As he spoke about the trip, he brought up his own play.
“Yeah, I mean, it’s tough,” Riley said. “Tough. It really is. From a personal standpoint, it’s honestly embarrassing what I’ve displayed offensively, and I’ve got a lot of work to do. From an offensive point, there’s no excuses. It’s embarrassing.”
In the sixth inning, with the Braves up two runs, the bottom of the lineup started a rally. The Braves came up empty as Marcell Ozuna flied out, Riley struck out and Matt Olson popped out.
This was a fitting moment in a trip full of futility. The Braves had the bases loaded and no outs for their best hitters … and didn’t score. It burned them later because the bullpen could’ve used more cushion.
“Right there with the bases loaded, one out with me, no excuses, I’ve got to get it done,” Riley said. “It was not good whatsoever.”
Iglesias had pitched once since the end of spring training. Snitker contemplated using him for two innings, but ended up putting him in during the eighth inning to replace Daysbel Hernández and get a five-out save — and at a 2-0 count, no less. In the middle of the at-bat, Iglesias entered, then walked the batter. Eventually, Max Muncy smoked a two-out, two-run double that tied the game.
Dodger Stadium went nuts.
Fans were alive.
The Braves had paid for their missed opportunities.
After the first two innings, Snitker didn’t allow himself to get comfortable with his team ahead by five runs. He knows how it can change.
“I just thought we had a couple opportunities here that I was hoping we’d bust the whole thing open and have one of those games,” he said.
It looked like an offensive outburst — for two innings. Then the Braves went silent. They were 5-for-15 with runners in scoring position, which is a nice night following the 1-for-34 clip they held entering Wednesday.
The Braves played Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday — and did not win once. No one could’ve forecast this. And in Los Angeles, the Braves scored one earned run in three games. One.
How can a team jump-start itself?
“I think just believing in yourself,” Riley said. “We’re putting a lot of pressure on ourselves offensively — we are. I think it’s evident. We just gotta stick to our plan. I think at times, there were some good at-bats throughout the series. I think we gotta hold onto that and build off of it.”
For now, this will sting. The Braves were so excited to begin the season, only to be punched in the mouth over and over. They lost Jurickson Profar. They lost Reynaldo López. They lost three games to the Dodgers. (They were swept here last season, too.)
On his bobblehead night, Ohtani delivered the final dagger for a West Coast trip the Braves will try to forget.
“He’s the best player in baseball,” Riley said. “You make a mistake and more than likely, you’re going to pay for it. There’s a reason why he’s the best.”
And here’s the ironic part: The pitch wasn’t bad. It was a change-up away, and Ohtani got to it and muscled it out to left-center field. Michael Harris II jumped at the wall, but the ball was well out of his reach.
As pandemonium ensued at Dodger Stadium, the Braves began grappling with yet another defeat.
Who would’ve thought the Braves, with all their talent, would start a season like this?
“I wouldn’t have and I don’t think anybody else would have,” Elder said. “But the reality of it is, we’re here, so we’ve got to figure out a way to get up and win a couple ballgames and get going, and we look forward to it.”
They must move forward. The Marlins come to town for the home opener at Truist Park. For months, Braves fans have looked forward to this.
But no one thought it might be the night of Atlanta’s first win.
“It’s hard,” Snitker said of seeing his coaches and players struggle. “This thing’s hard. This game is hard. It’s hard. You know what, we’ve put ourselves here, so we’ve just gotta keep fighting and eventually fight out of it.”
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