Kind of hard to fault Max Scherzer here. He pitched into the ninth inning having given up only one run, having struck out nine, and having retired ten in a row coming into the final frame. Unfortunately his teammates could do no better against Manny Banuelos — who left early with cramping and dehydration — and four Braves relievers. That had it tied in the ninth.

Scherzer was not hit hard at all in the ninth, but the Braves placed those hits just so. First Pedro Ciriaco reached on infield single to short, just beating out the throw. After he was sacrificed over to second, Cameron Maybin came to the plate and chopped one over third base. It landed in foul territory, but the umps say it passed over the bag in fair territory, and that’s what matters. Watch:

 

Scherzer, whose ERA went up a couple of ticks despite only giving up two runs, pretty much captures what this one was all about: being BABIP’d to death:

“The way you lose like that — an infield single with Ciriaco being able to beat it out and then a ball that chops right over the third base — what are you going to get mad about?” Scherzer said. “I thought I executed my pitches in those situations. They just got hit. Baseball’s a funny game sometimes.”

Yup.