MILWAUKEE — The Atlanta Braves find themselves trailing the Milwaukee Brewers in their best-of-five National League Divisional series after dropping the first game, 2-1.
The game was played in front of a full house in Milwaukee. Rowdy Tellez hit a mammoth 2-run home run in the seventh inning which ended up being the difference.
Pinch hitter Joc Pederson’s solo shot in the eighth inning made it a 2-1 game. The Braves had the tying-run at third in the top of the ninth but couldn’t complete the comeback.
The Brewers lead the series 1-0.
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Starter Charlie Morton pitched a solid game with six scoreless innings and nine strikeouts, which tied his postseason career-high.
But the third time around the Brewers order, Morton hit a batter and gave up the 2-run shot to Tellez.
“Even in those at-bats, I got them where I wanted to be,” Morton said. “I just didn’t finish them off. I hit Avi, and then I grooved one to Rowdy.”
The Braves offense put runners into scoring position early in the first inning but couldn’t plate a run. Milwaukee starter Corbin Burnes eventually settled and made it difficult for the Atlanta to get any hits.
Down in the ninth, Freddie Freeman drew a walk with no outs. After a Austin Riley single and strange play on Adam Duvall’s at-bat, Brewers closer Josh Hader got former teammate Orlando Arcia to ground out and end the game.
“They’re an aggressive offense,” Burnes said. “That was kind of the key tonight was to try to play off of that. We were just trying to do too much early on.”
Game 2 of the series in Saturday afternoon again in Milwaukee with first pitch scheduled for 5:07 p.m.
The Braves will look toward Max Fried as they try to even up the series before it heads to Atlanta. Brandon Woodruff will get the ball for the Brewers late Saturday afternoon.
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