Dodgers drop Braves series on strange day from Justin Wrobleski

Max Muncy couldn’t help but throw his hands up in disbelief.In a frustrating loss for the Dodgers, such was the defining image of the day.In the bottom of the sixth inning Sunday, with the Dodgers facing a four-run deficit to the Braves, Muncy thought he had done everything right in the most pivotal moment of the game.He’d worked a full count in a bases-loaded, two-out opportunity.He got the pitch he was looking for from Braves reliever Robert Suarez on a fastball up — but not out — of the strike zone.

Even though he’s been slumping recently, Muncy connected with what appeared to be a perfect swing, lining a 107 mph rocket deep to right field.And as the ball sailed through the afternoon sun, it seemed like a comeback was on.Braves right fielder Eli White, however, had other ideas.With a leaping effort that sent him crashing face-first into the wall and knocked him flat on his back along the warning track, White held on for a game-changing catch.It was as close as the Dodgers would come in their 7-2 defeat at Dodger Stadium.And it left Muncy — who later hit a two-run homer that would prove too little, too late — stunned as he pulled up just past first base.Instead, on a day they fell behind by four runs in the second inning, the Dodgers (24-16) failed to avoid a fourth series defeat out of their last six tries.While the Dodgers were unable to capitalize on opportunities in the rubber-match game of this marquee series, the Braves (28-13) took advantage, maintaining their status as MLB’s winningest early-season team.That, at least for now, the Dodgers aren’t baseball’s best team.That honor probably instead belongs to the Braves, who made Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski pay for his own defensive mistake in their back-breaking four-run second inning.After giving up one run on three consecutive two-out singles (one of them via a bunt), Wrobleski got Sean Murphy to hit a comebacker that should’ve been turned for an inning-ending double play. Alas,...