Today's Three Things: Atlanta's bullpen absolutely melts down to ensure series sweep
The Braves hit three home runs and led by six entering the 9th...but somehow still lost the game.
The Atlanta Braves completely melted down late against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Truist Park on Thursday afternoon, turning a 10-4 lead entering the ninth inning into a 11-10 defeat.
Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
There’s no appropriate answer here but the 9th inning.
Scott Blewett got out of the 8th inning unscathed and came back out for one more frame, absolutely a defensible decision given the team’s more than sufficient lead and his mostly clean 8th inning - he allowed a solo homer to Ketel Marte, but that’s all.
Only, this didn’t work out for Atlanta.
After a leadoff strikeout, Blewett allowed a solo shot to Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to make it 10-5 Braves. Tim Tawa then walked, advancing to 2nd base because…why hold him on first in a five-run game? Alek Thomas then homered, bringing it down to a save situation. Rick Kranitz made a mound visit to give the pen time to get Raisel Iglesias up, with Jose Herrera walking before they finally made the change to Iggy.
Didn’t help.
Iglesias gave up two dubles and two singles while recording only one out, giving Arizona a 11-10 lead. After another walk, this one of Gurriel (yes, Arizona batted around here), Iggy finally got a line out of Tawa to end the inning.
The Braves went down in order in the bottom of the 9th, with a Matt Olson one-out walk being erased by a Marcell Ozuna double play
Today’s Player of the Game
None.
Seriously, there’s no one to reward from this game.
Yes, there are players that played well - Austin Riley went 2-5 with a homer, Drake Baldwin had a pivotal caught stealing and a homer, while Ronald Acuña Jr. went deep and Michael Harris went 2-4 from the #9 spot.
But in a game that you lose a six-run lead in the final inning, there’s no player of the game. If you don’t like it, play better.
What You’ll Be Talking About
Atlanta has to do something.
I’m not suggesting they fire Brian Snitker, although that’s the prevaling sentiment across Braves social media.
But something has to change. The team swapped out third base coaches earlier this week, and we know of at least one more change coming out of today - Craig Kimbrel is coming up, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal.
It feels like putting a bandaid on the Titanic, honestly, but this team is not in a good place and it’s hard to argue that anyone should be completely safe after a loss like this.
What’s Next for the Braves?
The Braves are flying five hours to the West Coast to start a series against the San Francisco Giants. Here’s the announced starters for the series:
Friday: Spencer Schwellenbach (4-4, 3.13) versus Hayden Birdsong (3-1, 2.37)
Saturday: Bryce Elder (2-3, 4.56) vs Logan Webb (5-5, 2.55)
Sunday: Spencer Strider (0-4, 5.68) versus Landen Roupp (3-4, 3.18)
Please win a game.
It’s been a slow burn since Memorial Day. This team has always taken pride in its consistency—staying even-keeled, not getting too high or too low. But maybe getting punched in the mouth like that is what it takes for someone to finally step up in that locker room. The leadership conversation has been coming up for a few years with all the departures, but Travis did kind of fill that void for a while. Maybe because it was a tired narrative, it hasn’t come up as much this year—but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still relevant.
Nothing on the field so far supports this; but I think they can play .620 ball (that’s the 90 win number) should they catch the right breaks.
If they don’t, they don’t. It was a year to get under the tax, shock the front office a little bit, really shock the players and next year hopefully come in with a few player acquisitions and that WBC coaching staff with McCann and DeRo 🤞
This team was jelling and becoming the 25 team--not the 24 or the 23--they were about to get Acuna and Strider back. Things were looking good and then....everyone has turned into pumpkins. This one is a bit more painful than the rest but it is still a long line of pain. Fingers crossed they become a team we talk about for good reason years from now.