A lot went wrong for the Cleveland Guardians in their series finale with the Atlanta Braves. There was a lot of momentum for the team after David Fry brought the fireworks with a 4th Of July walk-off, but they couldn't carry that over to take the series.
Trouble started from the top of the first as Cal Quantrill immediately gave up four runs before a Guardian even picked up a bat to stop the bleeding. Digging out of a deficit that large and that early takes base runners and timely hits.
The Guardians didn't struggle to get on base. They ended the night with seven hits and had base runners in every inning of the game except for the eighth. However, the timely hits portion is another story.
Cleveland had numerous opportunities to score, but could never get runs across. They finished the game with 12 runners left on base and none of them came around to cross the plate. On top of that, they were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on base in scoring position with two outs.
Needless to say, that's not a recipe to win baseball games.
While the Guardians struggled to go base-to-base, the Braves put on an offensive clinic. They finished the night with 19 hits and scored eight runs. They showed all of Cleveland what it means to have a lineup that can do damage from leadoff to the ninth hitter.
Terry Francona described the Braves as being "aggressive" which lead to a number of base runners and trouble down the line.
The Braves are the best team in baseball and have a chance to do something truly special this season. They're contending to win a World Series while the Guardians are trying to sneak into the playoffs.
Both teams may end up in the postseason when it's all said and done, but Atlanta is playing on another level.
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