With two outs, a runner on first, and a right-handed batter due up, the Braves didn’t plant Riley on the line. or accept that you’re stopping doubles and nothing else. Still, the fact that he’s a poor third baseman means the Braves consistently have a dilemma without good options: shove Riley even further towards the line to prevent doubles and accept that by doing so you hamstring his ability to get balls in the hole even further. (Going to his left remains a consistent issue.) The Braves don’t position Riley poorly, in a vacuum - his estimated success rate is basically average, and he plays relatively deep and relatively shaded towards the line compared to other third basemen. Almost immediately afterwards, Christian Walker pulled a grounder down the third-base line.Īustin Riley is a pretty poor defensive third baseman, but over the last two seasons, he’s made improvements in going to his right. Morton issued a four-pitch, two-out walk to Carroll. In the third, the Diamondbacks scored their third and final run by a combination of a rare Morton miscue and a much less rare defensive lapse. hit a 50-50 liner down the left-field line to score both runners, and the Braves were in an early hole. Morton got a weak fly ball for the second out, but then Lourdes Gurriel Jr. The leadoff hit by Geraldo Perdomo was maybe a single all the way despite being weakly hit because of where shortstop Orlando Arcia was positioned, but the Braves bungled a bouncer by Corbin Carroll as it went off Matt Olson’s glove about halfway between first and second to put two on with one out. Arizona scored twice in the first, plating two runners that reached on infield singles. Collin McHugh also had a nice, bounceback, scoreless eighth inning in relief of Morton.īut what the Braves and Morton couldn’t overcome were their own defensive issues, and the defensive aptitude the Diamondbacks showed tonight. He didn’t melt down the third time through, and while he nearly allowed a two-run homer to the sole batter he faced for a fourth time, that ball was caught on the warning track. Despite facing a tough, lefty-laden lineup, Morton went seven innings and posted a 9/2 K/BB ratio. To get that out of the way early, Morton was fantastic. With the various mistakes the Braves made in this game, it’s perhaps surprising that they ended up losing by just a run, but that’s a testament to how well Charlie Morton pitched. On Friday night, despite an excellent pitching performance from Charlie Morton and not one, but two homers from the struggling Eddie Rosario, they couldn’t overcome some early defensive lapses en route to a 3-2 loss. The Braves came into June with the league’s worst infield defense.
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