Late stumble negates Freeman's heroics

ATLANTA -- Attempting to temper his anger, Braves manager Brian Snitker exited the clubhouse and spent a moment with his grandchildren. Then he made his way back to his office to answer questions about the crushing 9-8 loss Atlanta suffered after taking a six-run lead into the eighth inning on Wednesday afternoon against the Red Sox at SunTrust Park.
"We just have to regroup," Snitker said. "It's definitely the toughest loss of the year. When you have a game like that in hand, we've done it to other people. But it's tough. We've got no choice but to fly to [Arizona] and get a winning streak going."
Back when the Braves blew a five-run eighth-inning lead during the walk-fest at a frigid Wrigley Field on April 14, they had no clue how good they might be, and there was plenty of time to make amends. So with a little more than three weeks left in the regular season and the Braves attempting to hold off the second-place Phillies, it was easy to understand why Snitker and his players seemed more devastated by this late-inning collapse.

"You've got to win those ballgames, no matter who it is against or whenever it is in the season, especially here in September," Braves closer A.J. Minter said.
Minter took the loss after blowing the save opportunity he was afforded by Freddie Freeman's go-ahead eighth-inning homer on what was supposed to be a day off for the slugger.

With the Red Sox entering play stand just four victories away from a 100-win season, manager Alex Cora took advantage of the chance to rest several of his best hitters, including second baseman Ian Kinsler -- at least until he was used as a pinch-hitter during the Boston's six-run eighth -- providing an opening for Atlanta native and former Brave Brandon Phillips, who celebrated his season debut by drilling the decisive two-run homer off Minter in the ninth.
"I was trying to go with a fastball in," Minter said. "I don't know where I missed, but it was obviously missed a little bit over the plate, maybe by an inch or so. That inch, he made me pay for it."

The Braves felt miles away from where they thought they would be when they entered the eighth with a 7-1 lead. Ronald Acuña Jr. set a franchise record with his latest leadoff homer, and Ozzie Albies highlighted a five-run fifth with a two-run triple. Mike Foltynewicz allowed one run over six innings and seemed destined for a win until Adam Duvall and Johan Camargo made some costly defensive miscuess in the destructive eighth.

"We've been able to put a lot of adversity behind us over the course of the summer, and we've got to keep doing that now," Snitker said.
Duvall has struggled mightily at the plate since being acquired from the Reds, and he certainly didn't live up to his reputation as a sound defensive outfielder when Snitker opted to insert him and rest Markakis during the final two innings on Wednesday.
"Wanted to give [Markakis'] legs a break; I've been playing him to death," Snitker said. "We're all big leaguers here. We still have to make plays."
Duvall misplayed Christian Vázquez's leadoff single and allowed Jackie Bradley Jr.'s single to drop in front of him. Blake Swihart followed with a two-run double -- the fourth consecutive hit surrendered by Dan Winkler, who then exited and slammed his glove and tossed a cup of water during a dugout tirade.

"I made really good pitches," Winkler said. "Everything I was throwing was exactly where I wanted it. I felt like I had good stuff. I guess when it leaves your hand, it's out of your control. It just fell where they weren't, and I think that's the most frustrating thing. I had good stuff, and I was throwing strikes. I guess I could have thrown more balls."
Andrew Benintendi greeted Jonny Venters with an RBI single, and Steve Pearce followed with a sacrifice fly that cut Atlanta's lead to 7-5. Usually reliable third baseman Camargo added to the follies when he fumbled Phillips' potential double-play grounder before making an errant throw to first. Kinsler then welcomed Brad Brach with a game-tying two-run single.

Minter stopped the bleeding in the eighth by getting pinch-hitter Mookie Betts to look at a called third strike. But before completing the seventh multi-inning appearance of his young career, he delivered the fastball that allowed Phillips to trump Freeman's feel-good homer with one of his own.
"This one stings," Minter said. "The only thing you can do is come back tomorrow and try to take something away from this. I don't believe this one game is going to define the rest of the season. But yeah, it definitely hurts."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
When Snitker opted to keep Freeman out of the lineup for the first time this season, it provided a start to the recently acquired Lucas Duda, who was involved in two key developments in the five innings he played before he was replaced by Ryan Flaherty. Phillips raced home when Duda fielded Brock Holt's second-inning grounder and then turned his back to record a forceout, and he was also on the wrong end of third-base coach Ron Washington's aggressive choice to have the big first baseman attempt to score from first on Tyler Flowers' fourth-inning double to left.
"You can't make mistakes and you can't give [the Red Sox] more than 27 outs," Snitker said. "They play a bench game, and a majority of those guys could probably start on a lot of Major League teams."

SOUND SMART
Acuna's homer off Hector Velázquez was his eighth leadoff homer, breaking the franchise record Marquis Grissom set with the 1996 Braves. The 20-year-old phenom broke the record in just his 44 start in the leadoff spot. Arizona's Chris Young set the rookie record when he hit nine leadoff homers in 2007. Alfonso Soriano hit an MLB-record 13 leadoff homers for the 2003 Yankees. More >

UP NEXT
Aníbal Sánchez will take the mound when the Braves open a four-game series in Arizona on Thursday night. Sanchez has slashed his homer-per-nine-innings rate in half this year and established himself as a strong candidate for Atlanta's potential postseason rotation. He limited the D-backs to one run over six innings on July 13. Arizona will counter with Zack Greinke, who has a 1.85 ERA over his past seven starts against Atlanta. First pitch is scheduled for 9:40 p.m. ET.