Morton's stellar start not enough as Braves lose via walk-off

DETROIT -- One of the marks of any good team is its ability to stumble, not fall. Losses are bound to come, particularly during a 162-game season, and how a club -- or an individual -- responds to adversity is usually a pretty good benchmark for success.

The Braves, for example, fumbled along early this season and but have still ripped off wins in seven of their past 10 games despite Monday’s 6-5, extra-inning loss to the Tigers at Comerica Park.

And that’s what made the defeat so easy to flush.

“I mean, it stings,” manager Brian Snitker said. “No worse than any of them when you lose a lead. It happens. [Relievers] have bad days, too. It’s one game. … It doesn’t matter how good you’re going, games like this can turn around on you.”

After an uncharacteristic bullpen night let a 4-0 lead evaporate late, a fielding error in the bottom of the 10th put runners at the corners with no outs for former Tiger Joe Jiménez, who induced a lineout before Spencer Torkelson lined the game-winning single over Michael Harris II’s head.

"I feel like the command and the pitches were there,” said Raisel Iglesias, who allowed three runs in the ninth. “[The Tigers] came out aggressive, looking to make contact, knowing that I'm a pitcher who throws a lot of strikes. And I think that's all there is to it."

While the recent push that saw Atlanta vault to the top of the National League East standings came courtesy of a team effort, Monday might not have been so close a game had Charlie Morton not righted his own ship.

The veteran right-hander, who entered Detroit with an 0-3 record and a 6.14 ERA in his past four starts, harnessed vintage form to make many Tigers look silly swinging at his curveball en route to eight strikeouts over 5 2/3 scoreless innings.

In doing so, Morton became the first pitcher since at least 1913 with at least eight strikeouts in three consecutive scoreless starts against the Tigers.

More importantly, though, it got him dialed back in.

Morton admitted that his previous outing -- a four-run, 4 2/3-inning affair against the Mets -- was “just kind of weird” in that he struggled to find his release and the pitch mix wasn’t ideal, but what he brought to the hill against Detroit sure was: Morton drew 17 swings and misses, 12 of them on the filthy curve he’s built his name around.

“I felt pretty good,” he said. “Not as efficient as I’d liked to have been. … I wish I’d gone a little bit deeper in the game, but I think it went OK.”

“That's how you survive in this game,” Snitker said pregame. “You better adjust and adapt. You have to do that in order to survive.

“They do that in order to continue to be able to compete, and it's what makes you admire [Morton] so much.”

Morton’s teammates were strong behind him. Ronald Acuña Jr. doubled home two runs and added a third on a flyout. Marcell Ozuna extended his hit streak to 10 games with a double in the second inning before exiting with a right wrist contusion after a HBP in the fourth. Michael Harris II continued to show signs of heating up at the plate with three hits, including a solo homer in the eighth.

“Lately, I've been coming to find the holes [in the defense],” said Harris, who battled back from a slow start to hit .435 over his past six games. “... I guess the only difficult part is just understanding that it’s baseball, and it happens.”

While Harris enjoyed the upswing of baseball happening, Monday’s loss ultimately landed in the hands of a Braves’ bullpen that entered play with a 2.69 road ERA this season, 1.49 points lower than the MLB average. The Tigers scored a run in the seventh and eighth innings and three in the ninth to tie the game at 5, and things ended quickly once the 10th rolled around.

This loss is less concerning considering the success Atlanta has had lately. Still, the true measure will be how it responds in Game 2 of the series.

“We know what kind of talent we have and what kind of team we can be,” Harris said. “They came in and just hit it to the right spots … so there’s not really much we can do about that. They just did a good job. And we're just going to move on to tomorrow.”