Brenton Doyle hit a home run and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, helping the Colorado Rockies defeat the struggling Atlanta Braves 6-5 on Friday night.
The Braves have now lost six games in a row, dropping out of an NL wild-card spot just a week after being in contention with the first-place Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. Even though they had a strong record against the Rockies, the Braves couldn’t turn things around.
“It’s a performance-based job and when we can’t come out here and produce and win games, it’s frustrating,” Braves outfielder Jarred Kelenic said.
Atlanta had won nine consecutive games against the Rockies since September 5, 2021, including seven straight at Coors Field, but couldn’t keep the streak going after another brief outing from a starter.
Grant Holmes pitched through five innings, the most any Braves pitcher has gone during their recent losing streak. Holmes allowed five runs and six hits while striking out eight and walking three.
He didn’t get a loss as Atlanta’s offense tied the game 5-5 in the seventh with a solo homer from Ramón Laureano and a two-run shot from Jorge Soler, who hit his first home run since joining the Braves from San Francisco, bringing his season total to 13.
Doyle and Ryan McMahon led off the bottom of the seventh with back-to-back doubles off A.J. Minter (5-4), putting Colorado back in front. “I wouldn’t call it a bad outing, just a bad result,” Minter said.
Kelenic led off the ninth inning with his third hit and was on third base when Colorado’s Victor Vodnik struck out Austin Riley to secure his seventh save.
“It’s been tough,” Riley said. “There’s no other way to put it, it’s just been tough. I had two opportunities to score two runs and didn’t get it done.” Tyler Kinley (5-1) earned the win with one inning of relief.
Colorado rookie Tanner Gordon was denied his first major league win after five strong innings. Gordon allowed a solo home run to Marcell Ozuna in the first inning, his team-leading 34th, but kept Atlanta scoreless for the next three innings.
