'Humbling' finish leaves Braves' patience wearing thin

NEW YORK -- If you’re wondering if the patience is wearing thin, then it’s best to see what Chris Sale had to say when asked how valuable patience can be for an underachieving team like the Braves, who extended their long skid with a 3-2, 10-inning loss to the Mets on Thursday night at Citi Field.

“At a certain time you’ve got to get it going,” Sale said. “Just hoping it’s sooner rather than later.”

With their fifth straight loss and eighth over their past 11 games, the Braves remain atop the National League Wild Card standings. But they are just a half-game ahead of the Mets and two games ahead of the D-backs, who are just a half-game back in their bid to get the third and final Wild Card spot.

Of course, if you watched the final two innings of this latest loss, then linking the Braves to the postseason might seem far-fetched.

Sale was magnificent, allowing Francisco Lindor’s two-run homer in the third which accounted for the only runs during his season-high 7 1/3-inning effort. The injury-depleted Braves lineup tallied two runs against Luis Severino. But physical and mental blunders will likely serve as lasting memories of this one for Atlanta fans.

The game ended when right fielder Ramón Laureano raced toward the right-field line and overran Jeff McNeil’s walk-off single. What could have been a routine third out instead served as a fitting ending for a mistake-plagued game.

“I overran it, but I should have caught that ball,” Laureano said. “I let the team down today.”

Initially, it looked like Laureano might have been to blame for both of the significant 10th-inning blunders. But it turned out he could only take a portion of the blame for what transpired after he broke toward the plate too aggressively after seeing Jarred Kelenic show a squeeze bunt with one out in the top half of the decisive frame.

“I don’t know what that was, quite honestly,” manager Brian Snitker said. “You’re going to have to ask them. I didn’t have anything on. We normally don’t bunt in that situation, but I was trying to score a run. We had two pretty good hitters coming up, I thought. That was unacceptable.”

It made sense for Snitker to begin the inning by having light-hitting Orlando Arcia bunt Laureano over to third base. But you couldn’t say the same about what followed.

Kelenic showed bunt early enough for veteran reliever Phil Maton to throw a high and away fastball. This allowed Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez to catch the ball and begin the rundown that nipped the Braves’ last threat in the bud.

“I think it's pretty simple,” Kelenic said. “I think I’ve got to swing the bat there. I was trying to do too much. I think that's all there is to it.”

It’s pretty easy to see why Snitker described the chain of events as unacceptable. Laureano broke too aggressively after seeing Kelenic show like he was going to bunt. But there was no reason to bunt in this one-out situation, especially with Austin Riley on deck and Marcell Ozuna in the hole.

“You’ve got to keep your head up,” Sale said. “This is a very humbling game.”

Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos acquired both Reynaldo López and Sale this past winter. They rank first and third, respectively, in National League ERA.

Anthopoulos’ next task is to find a way to upgrade a lineup that began underperforming a month before Ronald Acuña Jr. suffered his season-ending knee injury. Acuña has been out since the end of May, and Ozzie Albies’ fractured wrist may sideline him until late September. Michael Harris II is still at least a couple weeks from returning.

Injuries have influenced the offense’s woes. But acquiring an outfielder before the July 30 Trade Deadline is looking more like a need than a want.

Here is the OPS for the Braves’ primary outfielders in July:
Adam Duvall: .630
Eddie Rosario: .537
Kelenic: .483

The bottom of the lineup is so thin, there was reason for Snitker to justify pinch-runner Whit Merrifield’s decision to try to steal third base with one out in the ninth. It was a bang-bang play that led the Braves to make an unsuccessful challenge (the call stood).

“Whit said, ‘Do you want me to be aggressive?’” Snitker said. “I said, ‘Absolutely.’ He’s a base stealer. That one didn’t work out. If we’d have been at the top of the lineup, then we wouldn’t have even been trying that.”