One step forward, one step back. A night after administering a 12-0 drubbing, the Braves offense found their cupboard entirely empty of cans of whoop-ass, and went down as meek as lambs to (quickly checking box score) “Jake Irvin,” a major league sophomore with a career ERA of 4.52 against the other 29 teams and a 3.15 ERA against us.

Max wobbled on a tightrope all night, giving up a billion hits though if not for a two-run homer to C.J. Abrams, he would’ve mostly gotten away with it, as he induced multiple double plays and got six strikeouts without yielding any free passes, benefiting from an outfield assist by Ramon Laureano, and stranding runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings. His only 1-2-3 inning was his last inning, the 6th. Another way of saying that is, it coulda been a lot worse on his side of the ball.

But honestly, Varsity’s off night was the least of our worries. More of a worry was the fact that the 3rd through 9th spots in the lineup went a collective 2-26 with one walk and seven strikeouts, with collars for Ozuna, Arcia, Murphy, Urshela, and our newest retread, Cavan Biggio.

(Regarding the latter: ignore his Hall of Fame last name. He’s a Quad-A player.)

Well, that’s the bad news. That, and Reynaldo Lopez’s IL stint.

Here’s the good news: Mastodon collaborated with Lamb of God on a new joint: