Braves can’t back up Fried gem, shut out by D-backs

PHOENIX — Braves manager Brian Snitker and some of his players have spent the past few weeks occasionally saying something like, “it doesn’t feel like we’re clicking on all cylinders yet.”

Three days before the All-Star break, it seems time to ask what it might take for this team to finally go on a sustained successful run.

“I don’t know,” Braves first baseman Matt Olson said. “It’s a good question. I don’t have an answer for it.”

The answer wasn’t found as the Braves were unable to overcome the one run Max Fried surrendered in a 1-0 loss to the D-backs on Thursday night at Chase Field. Olson came within a few feet of a game-tying homer in the ninth and Sean Murphy was robbed of an extra-base hit in the eighth.

But close doesn’t cut it, especially when the Braves were trying to end the season’s first half on a roll. They took two of three against the Phillies last weekend and then won the first two games of this four-game set. But the momentum died with consecutive losses to the D-backs.

“We wanted to get the series win, but it just didn’t work out,” Snitker said.

Three months removed from their only winning streak of at least five games this year, the Braves are running out of things to say. They entered Thursday having scored five-plus runs in each of their past six games. But Brandon Pfaddt limited them to three hits over six scoreless innings.

Consequently, Fried had to dwell on the 3-2 changeup that Eugenio Suárez hit over the center-field wall to begin the bottom of the fifth. Suárez homered against Charlie Morton’s curveball on Wednesday. If Fried could have had that pitch back, he might not have gone offspeed.

“That’s the best I’ve felt with mechanics, timing and just stuff in quite a while,” Fried said. “Knowing you make a mistake and give up a home run, that was an outing with the way I was feeling and the stuff that I had, it could have been a scoreless one.”

Fried might not have dwelled on that one pitch had he gotten any offensive assistance. Olson’s long ninth-inning drive was caught at the wall by a leaping left fielder Jake McCarthy. According to Statcast, it would have been a home run in 15 of 30 big league parks.

“Honestly, that should have gone further than it should have,” Olson said. “I didn’t hit it well.”

McCarthy was playing center when he went a long way to rob Murphy of what would have been a one-out double in the eighth.

But the Braves had only themselves to blame when Olson, Marcell Ozuna and Adam Duvall were retired after Austin Riley began the top of the seventh with a double.

How can the Braves get going offensively?

1. Get Olson on track
Olson has been one of the key cogs who just hasn’t been able to get on a roll this year. His bid to build on last year’s MVP-caliber season has been frustration-filled. He is hitting .234 with 13 homers and a .728 OPS. He produced a 1.063 OPS over 20 games from May 26-June 16. But he’s has hit .153 with a .470 OPS in the 23 games that have followed.

The veteran first baseman could mentally and physically benefit from the All-Star break as much as any Braves player.

2. Bat Riley second, especially against right-handed starters
Ozzie Albies has hit .221 with a .640 OPS from the left side this year. The switch-hitting second baseman just doesn’t seem to be a good option to bat second against right-handed pitchers. Instead, the Braves could take a chance on putting Austin Riley and Ozuna back-to-back in the lineup. Riley has a 1.195 OPS over his past 26 games and Ozuna boasts a .942 OPS this season, seventh-best in MLB (min. 300 at-bats).

Albies has an .891 OPS from the right side. But it’s also hard to pass on the opportunity to have both Ozuna and Riley face a left-handed pitcher in the first inning. So, when facing a southpaw starter, it might make sense to put Albies in the leadoff spot and follow him with Riley and Ozuna. This would just force Jarred Kelenic to bat down in the lineup during these games.

3. Make a trade
Michael Harris II has been sidelined since June 14 with a hamstring strain. He has been running over the past week and could begin a Minor League rehab assignment soon. His return after the All-Star break would help lengthen the lineup. But the key to this offense getting on a roll might depend on whether the team can add another quality-hitting outfielder to the mix before the July 30 Trade Deadline.