Today's Three Things: Atlanta Braves Get Obliterated as Pitching Collapses vs Miami

The Atlanta Braves have some tough decisions to make about two of the arms on their roster

The Atlanta Braves were blown out against the Miami Marlins, losing 12-0 in loanDepot Park on Monday night.

Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.

The Turning Point

The middle innings.

JR Ritchie had successfully walked the “struggling with control” tightrope entering the 4th inning, allowing just one run on three singles and a hit-by-pitch in 48 pitches.

And then the wheels fell off the wagon.

Ritchie was terrorized by Miami for five runs in the inning, coming on four hits, a walk, and another hit-by-pitch. Frustratingly, several of Ritchie’s batted balls were groundballs, but through the defense.

And after Ritchie’s five-run, 35-pitch frame, the Braves went to Aaron Bummer for the fifth. If Ritchie’s wheels fell off in the 4th, Bummer’s wagon tumbled off the tracks, down a ravine, burst into flames, and then somehow exploded.

The lefty groundball specialist did everything but reliably get groundballs. Bummer, averaging just 89.5 on his four-seamer, needed 42 pitches to get through the 11 Miami batters that came to the plate. He walked four of the first five batters he faced, following that with a grand slam and a solo shot, before finally getting his first ground ball of the frame (and it was a hit, naturally.) By the time Bummer recorded his final out, on a strikeout of Owen Caissie, he had allowed six runs on three hits (two homers) and five walks. The lefty got just two whiffs on the nine swings he induced, with his average exit velocity being 100.8 mph on the five batted balls against him.

Today’s Player of the Game

This may be a shock, but there isn’t one tonight.

Let’s give it to Walt Weiss, I guess, for taking advantage of the lopsided score to get Drake Baldwin, Matt Olson, and Michael Harris II all off their feet. It was the first defensive innings of the season for Dominic Smith, coming at first base, while Sandy León got to be the leadoff hitter for just the second time in his career and Josè Azocar got his first Atlanta action in centerfield.

Ronald Acuña Jr., activated just Monday from the injured list, campaigned for a pinch-hit opportunity late, coming to the dugout steps with a helmet and his bat. Walt Weiss declined to give him the opportunity, however.

Thanks, Walt.

What You’ll Be Talking About

The pending roster moves.

I took a lot of flak last week when I discussed Ritchie’s inability to reliably get whiffs, leading to long at-bats that shortened his start. Despite Ritchie ramping up his curveball usage tonight, sitting in the 30+ percent range entering the 4th inning, the righty finished with just 10 whiffs on 42 swings. While he didn’t issue too many walks (1 total), he also didn’t have the command to reliably throw strikes (42% zone rate), meaning either a lot of foul balls or him giving up a hard-hit ball after he was forced to come into the zone (50% hard-hit rate, average EV of 90.2 mph).

Aaron Bummer, similarly, seemed to know at the end of his inning that he was finished in Atlanta. He lingered on the mound after getting the final strikeout, taking one final look around the ballpark before walking off the field. He’s survived to this point thanks to his $9.5M salary, but the fact that his performance has deteriorated to where we are now means that it’s almost inevitable that this was his final appearance in an Atlanta uniform.

The best thing for the Braves to do tomorrow morning is to make two roster moves - optioning Ritchie back to Triple-A Gwinnett and designating Bummer for assignment. Despite Ritchie going down, Atlanta would still have a five-man rotation, with both Martín Pérez and Grant Holmes starting every five days until the Braves can get some injured starters back. Lefty Dylan Dodd, who has been on rehab since early May, can return to the major league roster, joined by either reliever James Karinchak or starter Carlos Carrasco as a swing man.

While this still doesn’t fill Bummer’s intended role as a lefty-specialist - Dodd has reverse splits - it gives Atlanta more reliable relievers they’re actually willing to use and Carrasco’s ability to give length allows the Braves to convert either Didier Fuentes or Reynaldo López into more of a traditional reliever. Those two being incapable of pitching on a back-to-back means that the Braves have been hamstrung in recent weeks, with only three trusted high-leverage relievers and Tyler Kinley available for standard relief work.

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What’s Next for the Braves?

The Braves will be looking to even up the series tomorrow afternoon at 4:10 PM ET, with Martín Pérez (2-2, 2.25) taking on lefty Braxton Garrett (0-1, 33.75 ERA - he’s made one start, and it went poorly) in game two of the four-game series.