Grant Holmes turned in an impressive outing for the Atlanta Braves, but their bullpen was unable to protect a 2-1 lead in a 8-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.
Holmes has been a story of perseverance. After getting drafted in the first round of the 2014 MLB Draft, Holmes finally made his major league debut with the Braves earlier this season. Monday, he was tabbed to make his first major league start. He got his outing off on a good note by striking out Brice Turang, William Contreras and Jake Bauers in a perfect first.
After the good first inning, Holmes found himself in trouble in the second. Wily Adames reached on a swinging bunt and then moved to second as Sean Murphy airmailed the throw to first. Jackson Chourio followed with a solid single to left to put runners at first and third with no one out. Undeterred, Holmes came right back and struck out Garrett Mitchell, Rhys Hoskins and Sal Frelick to strand the runners.
Holmes kept the streak going by striking out Joey Ortiz to start the third. Turang snapped the streak with a fly out to center and Contreras grounded out sharply to Orlando Arcia for another scoreless frame.
The Braves’ offense couldn’t get much going over the first three innings against Brewers starter Colin Rea. Eddie Rosario reached on a single in the second and Arcia walked to start the third. They finally broke through on the scoreboard in the fourth as Marcell Ozuna connected for his 31st home run of the season to give Atlanta a 1-0 lead.
The Braves added on in the fifth as Arcia took Rea deep for another solo home run to push the lead to 2-0.
Given a lead, Holmes made quick work of the Brewers in the fourth by retiring the side in order. He retired 10 straight hitters before allowing a solo home run to Hoskins with one out in the fifth. He retired the next two hitters in order to end the inning.
That would be it for Holmes who gave Atlanta more than they could have hoped for. He allowed three hits, one run and struck out eight over five innings while throwing 70 pitches.
Jesse Chavez took over for Holmes in the sixth and immediately found himself in some hot water. Turang led off the inning with a soft single to center and then stole second. Chavez then walked Contreras but got Jake Bauers to ground into a force out to put runners at the corners. Adames followed with a long home run to center field to put the Brewers in front 4-2.
The Brewers added on in the seventh against Aaron Bummer. Sal Frelick got things started with a bunt single and then moved to second as Bummer’s flip got past Olson at first. Ortiz followed with a fly ball to center that Jarred Kelenic misread. Ortiz ended up with a triple and Frelick scored to extend the deficit to 5-2. Milwaukee blew the game open with three runs against Darius Vines in the eighth.
Sean Murphy homered off Bryce Wilson in the ninth to round out the scoring.
Atlanta managed just four hits in the game, including three solo homers. They left just three men on base and were 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position. The series will continue Tuesday. Neither team has announced its starter for Tuesday’s game but Bryce Elder appears likely for Atlanta.
