Braves Cold Spell at the Plate Continues, Swept By Padres to Start Season

The Atlanta Braves had their worst offensive showing of the season thus far as they fall to 0-4 on the season

There are very few ways the series finale could have gone worse for the Braves | Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Braves' grueling stretch of baseball out in San Diego is over. They drop the finale 5-0 to be swept in the opening four-game series of the season. They’ve now been shutout in back-to-back games. 

"Well, I mean, it's bad - 0-4 is pretty bad," Braves manager Brian Snitker said. 

The Braves were one-hit by the Padres' pitching staff. They drew a walk and struck out eight times. Nick Pivetta pitched seven shutout innings for San Diego before handing it off to Jason Adam for the eighth and Jeremiah Estrada for the ninth. 

The only way it could have gotten worse if they were no-hit. Beyond that, a perfect game is the only way.

On the bright side, how the Braves fared with runners in scoring position technically didn’t get worse. That can’t happen when no players get into scoring position, after all. 

The entire team was impacted by the cold spell sweeping through the clubhouse. Three batters are hitting .200 or better. Only one of those hitters, Marcell Ozuna, is actually hitting about exactly .200. 

Sure, batting average doesn’t tell the whole story, but there isn’t much more of a picture to paint. It’s hard to believe anyone will feel better because Ozzie Albies’ OPS is .521 when he’s batting .133. Austin Riley’s OPS is .679, even though he’s batting .143. These numbers won’t win a team ballgames.

Assuming the comment that the Braves are ordering those torpedo bats on ESPN wasn’t a joke, perhaps that could go a long way. 

If you took the Braves' best offensive performance, four runs on Opening Day, and applied it to every game, there would be a single win so far. That applies to the 1-0 loss on Saturday. 

They would have forced extra innings in another, the 4-3 loss on Friday, but there is no guarantee they come out of that one with a win. 

Even with the struggles the pitching has had. There has been little hope to even find a way to overcome it. 

This team is happy to be out of San Diego for the season. It was ugly back in October, it’s ugly in March. Getting out of their can only help them see a change in fortunes on offense. 

The Braves head to Los Angeles to take on the Dodgers for the second half of this West Coast road trip. Grant Holmes will take the mound, hoping to give the team a chance to pick up its first win of the season. First pitch is set for 10:10 p.m. EDT.