It was a tale of defensive miscues by the Brewers and defensive gems by the Braves

ATLANTA – Defense was the name of the game.

Simply put, the Brewers didn’t make plays when they needed to, and the Braves did.

The result was a 5-4 loss to Atlanta on Friday night in the first game the Brewers played at SunTrust Park. It was one of those “woulda, coulda, shoulda” games that leave managers shaking their heads and players frustrated.

“The game came down, for me, that they made some excellent defensive plays at the end of the game and then we gave them a couple of runs, too, throughout the game,” manager Craig Counsell said.

The Brewers also got banged up at the wrong time. Left-handed reliever Sam Freeman, who pitched so poorly in seven games last year the Brewers cut him loose, hit the league’s hottest hitter, Eric Sogard, on the right elbow with a pitch in the seventh inning, rendering him unable to bat in the ninth.

With two runs in, two on and one out, Counsell sent Jesús Aguilar to bat for Sogard, and Aguilar hit a sharp grounder down the third-base line. Guarding the line against an extra-base hit, Johan Comargo gloved the ball and started an inning-ending double play.

“It swelled up enough to put pressure on that nerve (in the elbow),” Sogard said. “I tried swinging in the (indoor) cage a little bit and it was pretty sore. I think it should be fine tomorrow. I’ve been hit there before.

“Their guy made a fantastic play a third. It would have scored two runs, definitely. It was a great play to get a glove on it. Those are game-changing plays.”

BOX SCORE:Braves 5, Brewers 4

RELATED:Sloppy play dooms Brewers in loss to Braves

NOTES:Lewis Brinson's playing time has decreased

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As if that weren’t bad enough, shortstop Dansby Swanson further frustrated the Brewers with his glove in the ninth. After Eric Thames led off with a double, Domingo Santana hit a grounder to the left of second base. Runners are taught to break for third if the ball is behind, so Thames did.

Swanson gambled on a throw to third, however, and it worked when he nabbed Thames on a close play that nixed the Brewers’ chance to draw even.

“The ball Aguilar hit, that’s a nice double play,” said Counsell. “And the ball Domingo hit, that’s a really nice play. Most shortstops are throwing that ball to first base. (Thames) should be going there, 100%.”

To rub it in one last time, Swanson made a diving stab of a soft liner by Manny Piña to end the game with a runner on second.

Contrast those defensive gems with miscues made by the Brewers that cost them runs and you have the difference in the game. In the first inning, after Brandon Phillips homered off Jimmy Nelson, Tyler Flowers hit what should have been an easy double-play grounder to Sogard at second.

Sogard flipped to shortstop Orlando Arcia, normally a defensive whiz, but he tried to be too quick with his exchange and dropped the ball for a run-scoring error.

In the seventh inning, after Thames muffed a grounder by Danny Santana that kept the Braves alive, Swanson punched a RBI single to right to give the Braves a seemingly safe 5-2 lead.

Those mistakes didn’t hurt as much until the Brewers rallied late to make it a one-run game, only to be thwarted by Atlanta’s defense. In the middle, the umpires allowed the teams to continue playing through heavy rain, which didn’t make matters any easier as Nelson surrendered two runs in the fifth.

“I’m not a weatherman; I stay out of that,” Counsell said. “The umpires have all the information. It’s never an easy call when it’s raining like that.

"The mound was getting dicey, for sure. In the fifth, he was ahead of all those hitters. He just couldn’t finish them.”

It was one of those nights. Lewis Brinson got hit by a pitch on his left pinkie finger, the one he dislocated in Colorado Springs earlier in the year. And Nick Franklin exited with hamstring tightness after slipping coming out of the wet batter’s box.

“We got a little banged up tonight,” Counsell said.