Braves ace Chris Sale dominates as Rockies’ road futility continues

The Rockies surely hate being a foregone conclusion. But they certainly were that going into Tuesday night’s game in Atlanta.

With lefty strikeout machine Chris Sale on the mound for the Braves, the young, road-helpless Rockies stood a next-to-nothing chance of coming away with a W.

And, of course, they didn’t.

Sale struck out nine over seven innings as Atlanta blanked Colorado 3-0 at Truist Park. Sale has now pitched 15 consecutive games in which he’s allowed two or fewer runs.

And here’s another reason why the Rockies didn’t stand a chance in Hades on Tuesday night. Braves starting pitchers have now allowed three runs or fewer in 22 straight games, extending their longest single-season streak since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893 (per the Elias Sports Bureau).

All told, the Rockies fanned 14 times and their 1,369 Ks are the most in the National League.

The Braves are 15-3 against Colorado since the start of the 2022 season, and Colorado was shut out for the 14th time this season.

Sale has 206 Ks this season, becoming the first Braves lefty to top 200 strikeouts in a season. He reached the 200-K mark for the first time since 2019 when he pitched for Boston.

Still, with lefty starter Kyle Freeland pitching five gutsy innings, the Rockies stayed in the game. Before his early departure because of a finger blister (a reoccurring problem in the second half of the season), Freeland limited the Braves to two runs (one earned) on six hits. He fanned five and didn’t walk any.

The lefty began experiencing pain in his finger in the third inning. The blister prevented him from throwing his slider or his curveball.

“It’s very annoying, dealing with this,” Freeland told reporters in Atlanta. “We thought we had it taken care of for the past couple of weeks, but then it pops up again.

“So very frustrating, to be pitching well in a game, trying to keep the club in a game, but to have it pop up and not have any feel for any breaking stuff … especially in the fourth and fifth innings.”

Added manager Bud Black: “It just didn’t make sense to run him back out there.”

Atlanta scored its two runs off Freeland in the third. Whit Merrifield hit a one-out single and scored on Gio Urshela’s double down the left-field line. Urshela scored when first baseman Michael Toglia, scrambling to make a play on Michael Harris II’s grounder, threw the ball away for an error.

Atlanta tacked on another run in the seventh on Harris’ sacrifice fly to score pinch-runner Luke Williams. Colorado right-hander Jeff Criswell hit Merrifield in the back of the helmet, forcing Merrifield from the game. Williams advanced to third on Urshela’s single and scored on the sac fly.

Colorado’s best chance to get to Sale came in the sixth. Ezequiel Tovar led off with a triple to right, his third triple this season. But Sale reared back and unleashed his 96-mph fastball to strike out Brendan Rodgers and Brenton Doyle before getting Michael Toglia to fly out to deep center where Harris made an excellent catch against the wall.

The Rockies are 19-51 on the road, on pace to finish 22-59, which would be tied for the second-worst road record in franchise history (2023). The 2014 Rockies were 21-60 away from Coors Field.

Wednesday’s pitching matchup

Rockies RHP Bradley Blalock (1-1, 4.98 ERA) at Braves RHP Charlie Morton (7-7, 4.26)

5:20 p.m. Wednesday, Truist Field

TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).

Radio: 850 AM/94.1 FM

Manager Bud Black had a sit-down with Blalock after Blalock’s shaky start against the Marlins last Thursday at Coors Field. Black emphasized that the rookie right-hander needs to make every inning and every pitch count. The Marlins blasted Blalock for seven runs (six earned) on nine hits in four innings. Blalock was 5-3 with a 4.36 ERA in 18 starts at Double-A this season, but as Black reminded the rookie, mistakes are costly at the big-league level.

Morton has had his way with the Rockies. Over 14 career starts, he’s 6-2 with a 3.81 ERA. The veteran right-hander has been inconsistent much of the season, as he was in his last start in the Braves’ loss at Philadelphia. The 40-year-old allowed three runs on five hits and four walks while striking out seven over 5 2/3 innings in a no-decision. Morton dodged traffic in each of the first five innings, but he got tagged for a three-run home run by Brandon Marsh in the sixth.

Pitching probables

Thursday: Rockies LHP Austin Gomber (4-10, 4.69) at Braves RHP Reynaldo Lopez (8-4, 2.00), 5:20 p.m.

Friday: Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (1-10, 5.11) at Brewers RHP Frankie Montas (6-9, 4.70), 4:10 p.m.

— Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post

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