The Braves are having a difficult time staying ahead these days — both on the field and in the training room.

Seemingly every time they activate a player from the disabled list, another one goes down. And seemingly every time they put together a rally, the opposing team answers with a bigger one.

Both trends played out — in a most discouraging fashion — on Wednesday, when the Braves lost their leadoff hitter in the morning, and then lost a game, 4-3, to Greensboro in the afternoon before a crowd of 2,546 at SMS.

It was the second consecutive one-run loss for the Braves, who fell to 3-4 in the second half.

“It’s frustrating,” said a visibly dejected Jordan Kreke, sitting in the dugout after the loss. “We’ve got to find a way to start winning these close games. One-run games can make-or-break your season.”

Prior to the game, the Braves announced that Kyle Rose was being placed on the DL with a hamstring injury. Losing his services was a big blow for the Braves, who had just activated power-hitting prospect Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg from the DL last week.

“It’s like (our emotions) are being bounced around like a pinball machine,” said Rome manager Randy Ingle. “Shoot, we finally get our clean-up hitter back in the lineup, and then we lose our leadoff hitter. It’s tough.”

Rose is scheduled to visit the doctor this morning to find out the extent of his injury, Ingle said.

“Hopefully we can get him back quickly,” said Ingle.

Things are equally tough on the field for the Braves, who have lost the opening two games of this five-game series in the same manner — with a mistake in the field allowing the decisive run to score.

Kreke made a throwing error in the sixth inning of Wednesday’s game that ultimately enabled Greensboro to break a 3-3 tie. Rome reliever Steven Figuero (0-2) was saddled with the loss, although the only run he allowed was unearned.

“These are the games that so hard to take,” said Kreke. “I made a big error that put the team in the hole, and we weren’t able to dig out of it.”

The Braves certainly had opportunities, but rarely capitalized. They finished 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position, and are now 3-for-19 (.158) in those situations in this series.

Numbers like that often lead to one-run defeats — and to sleepless nights for the manager.

“After these types of games, you look back at the little things you could have done,” said Ingle. “You start thinking about all the ‘if-this’ and ‘if-that’ scenarios. Right now, we are stuck with a lot of ‘ifs.’ … We definitely had our chances today.”

After falling behind 2-0 in the top of the third, the Braves tied it in the bottom of the inning when Robert Hefflinger and Chris Curley contributed RBI groundouts. The Braves then took the lead, 3-2, when Christian Bethancourt scored on a wild pitch in the fourth.

But Greensboro answered with single runs in the fifth and sixth to steal the win.

Spanjer-Furstenburg, who missed all but four games in the first half due to a hand injury, finished with two hits and raised his average to .317. The rest of the lineup combined for just two hits.

Rome starter Brett DeVall had another solid, although not ultra-tidy, outing. He allowed just three hits and struck out seven in five innings, but also issued four walks, which matched his season high. He was charged with three runs (two earned) and did not factor in the decision.

DeVall, who was the Braves’ top pick in last year’s draft and is recovering from off-season elbow surgery, lowered his ERA by a shade, from 3.95 to 3.92.

“He kept us in the game,” said Ingle. “But we just couldn’t get that one big hit that put us over the top.”

The Braves came into the series with their heads held high after winning three games during a five-game series in Lexington that ended Monday. They also won their final four games before the All-Star break.

And although their momentum has vanished during the past two days, Kreke said it wouldn’t be gone for long.

“We finished the first half really strong, and then for us to go to Lexington and win three of five against one of the top teams in the league just shows you what we are (capable of),” he said. “We’ve added several new players since the All-Star break, including some big prospects, and as soon as we get (comfortable) with each other, we are going to be a tough team to beat.”

NOTE: In addition to placing Rose on the DL, the Braves made two other roster moves Wednesday: They placed left-hander Steven Kent on the inactive list, and infielder Chris Lovett was released by the organization.