San Diego Padres Fall To Atlanta Braves, New York Replay Crew

Despite a late comeback attempt, the San Diego Padres dropped Thursday night’s game to the Atlanta Braves, 3-2.

In three of the five-straight series wins accumulated by the San Diego Padres over the last three weeks, they dropped game one. On Thursday night in Atlanta, they dropped game one.

Unfortunately, the biggest storyline of the game was not the play of a Friar, or a Brave for that matter. The replay crew in New York, once again, took center stage of an MLB game. Atlanta Braves catcher Tyler Flowers was awarded first base on a hit-by-pitch despite the baseball clearly missing both him and the knob of the bat. In an era dominated by pace of play talk, MLB’s instant replay brought a fast moving game to a complete halt.

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Flowers would go on to score later in the inning, giving the Braves a 3-0 lead, heading into the eighth inning. While you can’t blame an entire game on the umpires, I don’t believe anyone would disagree with the fact that this replay system is completely broken.

Eric Hosmer did in his part in the comeback attempt, bringing in Jose Pirela and Cory Spangenberg with a double in the eighth inning off Braves relief pitcher, Dan Winkler. It would prove to not be enough to mount a complete comeback.

Atlanta added an insurance run in the top of the ninth, thanks to a throwing error by Adam Cimber.  After a leadoff single by Franmil Reyes, a Freddy Galvis flyball out and a Manuel Margot double play ended the game, a very winnable game for San Diego.

Thursday night’s superstar.

The player of the night for the San Diego Padres was catcher A.J. Ellis. Ellis went 2-3 at the plate, including his fifth double of the season. The 37-year-old veteran also made the defensive play of the night, gunning down Ozzie Albies on a stolen base attempt.

Very few Friars have been hotter than A.J. Ellis over the last few weeks, a positive sign considering the struggles of Raffy Lopez and uncertainty of Austin Hedges.

Despite picking up his fourth loss of the year, Padres starting pitcher Tyson Ross kept his team in the contest throughout his entire start. Ross went six innings, giving up just three hits and one walk while striking out four. The lone walk ended a franchise-tying record 32 straight innings by the Padres without surrendering a walk (original record set in 1971).

Next: With Players Returning From DL, Tough Decisions Lie Ahead

The Padres return to action in Atlanta on Friday night. First pitch is set for 4:35 pm PT. Clayton Richard (5-6, 4.40 ERA) will take on Brandon McCarthy (5-3, 5.03 ERA) as the Padres look to even the four-game series.