The Atlanta Braves and host San Francisco Giants hope to get their offenses back in high gear when they meet again on Tuesday, one night after a classic pitchers’ duel.
Braves right-hander Charlie Morton (6-7, 4.47 ERA) and Giants lefty Kyle Harrison (6-5, 4.08) will be tasked with the near-impossible in the rematch — duplicating the efforts of Chris Sale and Blake Snell, respectively.
Sale and Snell combined for 13 1/3 shutout innings in the series opener, a game that required extra innings in order for the first — and only — run to score. That occurred on a sacrifice fly by Travis d’Arnaud for the Braves in the 10th inning.
Having scored at least five runs in each of its previous five games, Atlanta managed just two hits — none until the seventh — in Snell’s 6 1/3 innings. Eleven of his 19 outs came on strikeouts.
Sale was every bit as good in his seven innings, topping Snell’s effort by one strikeout with 12. He gave up three hits, one more than Snell, against a Giants team that had scored three or more runs in 10 straight games.
The win allowed the Braves to pull 2 1/2 games ahead of the Giants in the National League wild-card race. San Francisco could still stick its nose in front by Thursday but would need to sweep the remaining three contests in the four-game set.
“It’s all about this series,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said Monday after his team’s second straight loss. “We feel good about the way we’re playing. We got off to a slow start (in the series opener), but it had a lot to do with their pitching.”
Morton has been the epitome of inconsistency in his last four starts. He’s been roughed up for a total of 13 earned runs and 15 hits over just 5 1/3 innings in his two losses over his last three outings, each one coming after a six-inning effort in which he didn’t allow an earned run.
Despite some recent poor results, the 40-year-old will stay on an every-fifth-day rotation, just like his mates.
“It’s kind of ‘go’ time,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of his starting staff. “There’s no more extra days and all of that.”
Morton was the losing pitcher in Atlanta’s 4-2 home loss to the Giants on July 4, allowing three earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. The defeat dropped his career ledger against San Francisco to 4-7 despite a 2.89 ERA in 17 starts.
Heliot Ramos and Matt Chapman homered off Morton in the earlier meeting. Mark Canha, Michael Conforto and Jerar Encarnacion also have taken Morton deep in their careers.
Nobody came close to reaching the bleachers in Monday’s game. There was only one extra-base hit in the contest, a double by Marcell Ozuna, ending Snell’s no-hit bid leading off the seventh.
The only Braves who have ever seen Harrison in a major league game did so for other clubs, with Whit Merrifield and Ramon Laureano going a combined 1-for-5.
Harrison, 23 — he celebrated a birthday Monday — has never faced Atlanta. He rebounded from one of the worst outings of his career to limit the Washington Nationals to two runs over 4 2/3 innings in his team’s 9-5 road win on Thursday.
–Field Level Media
