Braves' bats silenced after Folty falters in Gm 1

LOS ANGELES -- Though it might have been just one game, the result has put the Braves in an unenviable position, one from which they will need to prove they still have some of the resiliency that helped them make this unexpected run to the postseason.
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A youthful team that exceeded expectations over the previous six months was humbled as Mike Foltynewicz stumbled through two ugly innings and Ronald Acuña Jr. was just one of the many Braves who showed their youth during Thursday night's 6-0 loss to the Dodgers in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.
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"A lot of guys were getting experience in this environment for the first time," catcher Tyler Flowers said. "So hopefully we knocked that extra adrenaline out of the way and we can get back to what got us here, and that's just playing our game and doing our thing."
As if facing Clayton Kershaw on Friday in Game 2 isn't daunting enough, the Braves must buck a postseason trend. In the history of five-game series with the 2-2-1 format, teams that have won Game 1 at home have gone on to take the series 27 of 36 times (75 percent).
It will be hard for Kershaw to match the mastery of Hyun Jin Ryu, who proved more than worthy of a Game 1 start as he recorded eight strikeouts and limited the Braves to four hits over seven innings.
"I think everybody knows Clayton Kershaw," first baseman Freddie Freeman said. "We all know we have our hands full. It was nice to get the first game out of the way. A lot of young guys had their first playoff game tonight. So hopefully, we come in and score some runs early."

The Braves exceeded expectations and repeatedly silenced their doubters on their way to winning the NL East at least a year earlier than expected. But to extend their magical season, they will need to win three of the next four teams against a powerful Dodgers club that appears more than capable of making a second consecutive World Series appearance.
Freeman, Nick Markakis and Charlie Culberson were the only members of Thursday's starting lineup who had postseason experience. Culberson's came last year with the Dodgers, whose lineup counted just Max Muncy as the only one who had never played in the postseason.

Muncy didn't seem to be overwhelmed when he gave the Dodgers a 4-0 lead with a two-out, three-run homer in the second inning off Foltynewicz, who certainly didn't look like himself as he lasted just two innings in his postseason debut. But the All-Star was far from the only one to display inexperience and anxiousness.

"I just did everything I could to be ready for this moment, but things didn't work out the way I wanted out there," Foltynewicz said. "Whenever the next chance comes, I'll definitely be competing like I was tonight."
Just as Foltynewicz is looking forward to another chance, the Braves are now attempting to prove they might indeed be at their best just when it seems they're on the brink of disaster.
After the Braves ended a 5-13 stretch with three consecutive losses to the Dodgers in late July, they proceeded to win 14 of their next 18 games. It appeared they would fade after blowing a six-run eighth-inning lead during a Sept. 5 loss to the Red Sox, but they followed that demoralizing loss by going 6-1 during a trip that included stops in Arizona and San Francisco.
"Well, we have done this before," center fielder Ender Inciarte said. "You can lose one in the series and it doesn't mean anything. We have a pretty good team. We know what we can do. Of course we want to win the first game. We weren't able to do it. But tomorrow we have a new day and a new game."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Foltynewicz was willing to tip his cap after Joc Pederson hit a leadoff home run against a 98.5-mph fastball that was up and away. He then used three strikeouts to pitch around a Justin Turner double and Muncy walk that followed during a 28-pitch first inning.

But he wasn't happy about hitting Pederson with an 0-2 slider with two outs in the second. Turner followed with a walk, setting the stage for Muncy to deposit a center-cut fastball into the seats in right-center.
"To get two strikes [against Pederson] with two outs and then to have it all unwind like that really takes the cake," Foltynewicz said.
To compensate for Dansby Swanson's absence and Culberson's presence in the lineup, the Braves are working with limited options on a bench that includes a third catcher just to allow one of the primary backstops to be comfortably used as a pinch hitter. Those limited options led manager Brian Snitker to let Foltynewicz bat in the top of the third, despite knowing that Sean Newcomb was coming out of the bullpen to begin the bottom of the inning.
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SOUND SMART
The Braves have gone 10-24 in playoff games since last winning a postseason series (2001 NLDS).
Foltynewicz became just the eighth pitcher in Braves history to last two innings or fewer in a postseason start. Steve Avery (Game 5) and Tom Glavine (Game 6) both did so during the epic 1992 NL Championship Series against the Pirates the Braves won on Francisco Cabrera's two-out, two-run single in the ninth inning of Game 7.
WISE CHOICE
It didn't take Ryu long to quiet those who felt the Dodgers made a mistake by not starting Kershaw. Freeman's two-out single in the first accounted for Atlanta's only baserunner before Inciarte and Culberson notched consecutive two-out singles in the fifth.
"[Ryu] did what we knew he was going to do," Freeman said. "He pitches backwards. Every time you think you're going to get something, it's always the opposite. He commands up, down, in and out. The backdoor cutters were big against righties, and he kept throwing changeups to lefties, which kept us off balance."
ROOKIE MISTAKE
Acuna struck out twice while going 0-for-4 during his postseason debut. The 20-year-old phenom reached courtesy of Manny Machado's error in the sixth inning, but despite the Braves putting up the red light, he opted to make an ill-advised and unsuccessful attempt to steal second base with his team down four runs, with no outs and with the heart of the order coming to the plate.
"Those guys sometimes, you'll put a sign on and they're looking right through you," Snitker said. "It happens. That wasn't by any stretch anything that cost us the game or anything like that. It was just a kid, I think, that was out there and thinking that his teammate's going to put that ball in play and he's going to try to help make something happen."