The Rockies’ deficiencies in 2023 have been drawing plenty of parallels to the club’s expansion franchise in 1993, and on Tuesday night, the Braves highlighted another bit of similarly ugly molding.
That 1993 club that lost 95 games and was still very much looking for an identity like the ’23 team is now was 0-13 against the Braves, getting outscored 106-50.
Fast forward three decades, and it’s a good thing the Braves were only in the NL West for that ’93 season. First-place Atlanta, a favorite to win its second World Series title in three years, improved to 6-0 against the Rockies this year with a 3-1 win at Coors Field.
The last-place Rockies, outscored 57-17 in the six defeats to the Braves this season, are now 1-12 in their last 13 games against Atlanta dating back to last season.
Atlanta rapped out 14 hits in winning game two of the series, stranding a dozen runners. On the other side, the Colorado offense couldn’t solve Charlie Morton’s curveball or the Braves bullpen, despite the home pitching keeping it close after getting blown up in the 14-4 loss in Monday’s series opener. Colorado only mustered three hits, with 12 strikeouts.
After a quiet first, Marcell Ozuna made it 1-0 Braves with his 395-foot homer to right to lead off the second. Eddie Rosario followed that with a triple, then Sean Murphy singled him home as Peter Lambert’s stuff was playing up.
But Colorado got a run back in the bottom of the inning off Morton, making use of Hunter Goodman’s first major-league triple. Harold Castro brought Goodman home with an RBI groundout, cutting the score to 2-1.
Atlanta retook the lead in the fifth, with Austin Riley’s leadoff double followed by Ozuna’s RBI single. Lambert averted further damage in the frame and left with a 3-1 deficit, hoping his teammates could solve Morton and the Braves bullpen.
Brenton Doyle, a human highlight machine in center field, gave the home crowd another silver lining in the loss. The rookie hosed Orlando Arcia at the plate in the sixth inning with a 100.4-mph throw to keep the Braves off the board in the frame. Doyle now holds two of top three fastest outfield assists in the majors this year.
Meanwhile, Morton cruised through the fifth and sixth, giving way to setup man Pierce Johnson in the seventh. The familiar face — Johnson pitched at Faith Christian and then with Colorado this year before being traded — set Colorado down in order. A.J. Minter did the same in the eighth before Raisel Iglesias earned his 26th save in the ninth.
Atlanta’s win marked the latest chapter in the Braves’ historical domination in the series. Though Colorado had Atlanta’s number from 2015 to ’21, going 28-12 against the Braves during that span, the advantage has typically been with the NL East power. Atlanta’s 138-93 all-time against Colorado, and with Tuesday’s win pulled to an even 52-52 at Coors Field.
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(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)