The Braves crashed the party at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night with a 6-3 victory, snapping the Dodgers’ 11-game win streak. It was just Los Angeles’ fifth loss in its last 36 games.
Freddie Freeman had two hits and two RBIs, while Kurt Suzuki added a two-run homer to back a strong start from Mike Foltynewicz, as the Braves ended their three-game skid. Foltynewicz allowed three runs in 6 1/3 innings, striking out five. The Braves right-hander has gone 5-0 in his last nine starts, striking out 51 and walking 21, while posting a 3.33 ERA and limiting opponents to a .248 average.
“He was on the attack,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “It looked like a lot of confidence in what he was doing, the ball was coming out of his hand good. It was just really a nice aggressive outing.”
Playing in front of their home crowd for the first time in 11 days, the MLB-best Dodgers took their first loss at Chavez Ravine since June 26 against the Angels, and their first against a National League opponent at home since June 6 vs. the Nationals. It was also their first loss since July 2 in San Diego.
“It’s a weird feeling,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s different. Even to that last out, I thought we were going to find a way to win the game. But I guess we have got to start another one tomorrow.”
Dodgers starter Brandon McCarthy took the loss, allowing six runs on nine hits over four innings. Yasmani Grandal, who had a root canal earlier in the day, hit a two-run homer, and Cody Bellinger had an RBI single.
McCarthy has a 7.64 ERA over his last four outings, and Roberts said his next start is “to be determined.” McCarthy has dealt with a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand since Spring Training, and it appeared again Thursday. However, the right-hander said it’s not the reason for his recent struggles.
“The blister has been since spring, it just hasn’t ever gone away,” McCarthy said. “There’s no correlation, positive or negative. Command the last few, things have gotten really sloppy, and mechanics have been really shoddy, and this week, we really went to work trying to clean it up. Oddly enough, I feel happy with what happened today, outside of the results.”
The Braves got to McCarthy for two runs in the first, as four of the first five batters had hits. Ender Inciarte led off with a single, then scored on a one-out single by Freeman. Matt Kemp followed with another single, and Matt Adams ripped a double to score Freeman.
Dodgers pinch-hitter Trayce Thompson stepped to the plate representing the tying run in the bottom of the ninth, and with runners on second and third, he lifted a shallow popup into right. But Braves rookie second baseman Johan Camargo made an over-the-shoulder catch for the final out.
“That was a helluva play, wasn’t it?” Snitker said. “That’s just kind of willing yourself to catch that ball, it looked like to me. That’s a huge play.”
With the Dodgers’ loss, the 2013 Braves remain the most recent NL club to win at least 12 games in a row, as they won 14 straight from July 26-Aug. 9 that year.
Braves second baseman Brandon Phillips exited after the top of the sixth with right hamstring tightness. Camargo moved from shortstop to second, and Dansby Swanson entered at shortstop. Phillips, who went 1-for-3 with a triple, is day to day.
Lefty Jaime Garcia (2-2, 4.61 ERA) is scheduled to start, although a reported trade that would send him to the Twins may happen before Friday’s 9:10 p.m. CT game. Aaron Blair was scratched from his scheduled start for Triple-A Gwinnett on Thursday, so he may start should the Garcia trade get finalized.
