The Arizona Diamondbacks missed out on the opportunity to sweep the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.
The Arizona Diamondbacks fell to the Atlanta Braves in their series finale at Truist Park on Sunday, 5-3.
The loss means that the Diamondbacks leave Atlanta without the sweep, but they still secured the series win. Still, what went wrong on Sunday?
The third, fifth, and seventh
In the early innings of Sunday’s game, neither Arizona nor Atlanta could score.
Diamondbacks right-hander Michael Soroka got the starting nod, his 17th of the season, and he only gave up one hit through the first two innings. Then, in the bottom of the third, the Braves got to him.
Soroka started the frame by allowing a leadoff single to Dominic Smith. Then, after striking out Austin Riley, he gave up another single, this time to Jim Jarvis.
With runners on first and second, Soroka had to face Drake Baldwin, and Baldwin made him pay with an RBI single to right field that gave Atlanta a 1-0 lead. Soroka struck out the next two hitters he faced, but the Diamondbacks were still behind.
After Gabriel Moreno tied the game in the top of the fourth with a solo home run, Soroka got through the bottom frame, but the Braves scored again in the fifth when Soroka gave up an RBI double to Ronald Acuña Jr.
In the bottom of the sixth, Soroka was replaced by Taylor Clarke after he helped secure the first two outs. Soroka finished his afternoon with five strikeouts while allowing six hits, two earned runs and a walk over 5.2 innings.
Once again, the Diamondbacks tied the game via a home run. This time, it was off the bat of Ildemaro Vargas in the top of the seventh, but Atlanta made Arizona’s bullpen pay.
In the bottom of the seventh, Clarke was removed from the game after giving up a leadoff double to Austin Riley, and manager Torey Lovullo brought Brandyn Garcia out of the bullpen. After Garcia walked Baldwin, he struck out Acuña.
Yet any momentum that Garcia gained by striking out Acuna was quickly erased when he gave up a three-run home run to Matt Olson. At that point, the Diamondbacks had a much larger hole to dig out of, and they only had six outs left to work with.
Arizona gave one last push in the ninth when Ketel Marte walked, Max Kepler singled and Tim Tawa drove Marte home with a groundout, but that is all the Diamondbacks could muster.
Final thoughts
Overall, this was a good series for the Diamondbacks and a needed response to their failure to win a three-game set against the Colorado Rockies at home. Taking two out of three games against the team with the third-best record in baseball is never a bad thing.
The offense Arizona produced in Saturday’s 10-3 win on Saturday was not there, and even though its six hits were not far off from the eight hits the Braves produced, the latter just made more of their opportunities.
Now, the Diamondbacks will travel to Boston to face the Red Sox. The series begins on Monday at 4:10 p.m. MST.
