Today's Three Things: Braves Blow Lead in Walkoff Loss to Cubs in Extras
The Atlanta Braves had a five run lead through five innings and gave it all back in today's loss
The Atlanta Braves were walked off 7-6 in ten innings by the Chicago Cubs from Chicago’s Wrigley Field on Monday afternoon.
Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
The top of the tenth for Atlanta.
Road teams actually have a higher extra-innings winning percentage than home teams this season, mainly due to the information gap - you know whether or not it’s safe to deploy the closer to lock down a lead, while the home team does not.
Atlanta didn’t see Chicago’s closer and still couldn’t score in the top of the frame. With the speedy Michael Harris on second base, Nacho Alvarez Jr. bunted him to third but that’s where he would end the inning. Jake Fraley, starting in left field due to his experience with the ballpark from his time with the Cincinnati Reds, struck out in a six pitch at-bat where he swung and fouled off five pitches before finally whiffing on a slider below the zone. Marcell Ozuna, entering as a pinch-hitter for Nick Allen, got one pitch in the zone (which he took for a strike) but otherwise struck out on four pitches, stranding Harris on third base.
Today’s Player of the Game
Money Mike had another strong game, driving in four with his two hits. He singled in both runs in Atlanta’s third inning before doubling in the first two of Atlanta’s three scored in the 5th.
It’s a continuation of a hot post-ASG stretch for Harris. Despite being a bit cold recently, hitting “only” .242 in his last fifteen games, he still holds a .335/.354/.608 post-ASB line that’s one of the best in all of baseball, not just Atlanta. While he did get picked off of first base to end the third inning, he’s still currently one of the biggest basestealing threats on the roster and that’s the next dimension that needs to show up for the Braves over the season’s final month.
What You’ll Be Talking About
Atlanta’s bullpen.
It’s one thing if guys like Hunter Stratton, Wander Suero, or John Brebbia give up runs or blow leads. They’re depth for 2025, and not likely to be part of the team next season.
But when it’s Dylan Lee (versus Philly on Saturday) or Pierce Johnson (tonight), it’s a bit more concerning. Both relievers are individually good enough to be contributors to the next competitive Braves roster, but they also both have just enough bad outings or mistakes where it’s clear the Braves can’t bank on the return of Joe Jiménez and the addition of whatever free agent/trade acquisition closer next season. Atlanta’s needs more high-level depth in the back end of the pen. Maybe Tyler Kinley is eventually that guy, or Daysbel Hernández works his way back into the team’s good graces, but the bullpen as currently constructed is still lacking at least one more reliable backend piece.
Looking for more discussion about this game?
Here’s tonight’s Postcast, with me and Locked On Braves host Jake Mastroianni, as we went live to break down the win/loss.
What’s Next for the Braves?
It’s a battle of the southpaws on Tuesday night, with Joey Wentz (5-4, 4.92) getting the ball opposite Shota Imanaga (8-6, 3.08) at 7:40 PM ET.
I’m sure you are already cooking it up for tomorrow’s pod or newsletter but is it reasonable to see AA reshuffle the deck on Kim’s contract? Instead of a 16 million dollar player option for next year make it a 12 million dollar extension and give him 4 million for this year? Figured with the prorated Profar contract and the lack of deadline activity we have some extra room under that tax threshold. Spotrac has it looking like 5.7MM
Your assessment is spot on: once again we see that the opposition's bullpen has much more quality depth than the Braves'. Once again, we have AA to thank for this with his ignorant, foolhardy assessment back in January that losing Minter and Jimenez did not require replacing them with one or two quality pieces. I agree with Nick Halden's column a few days ago, that the downward spiral for the Braves actually began with the great run of '21 where, without Acuna, AA signs retreads Rosario, Pederson, and Soler and catches lightning in a bottle with some truly remarkable moments from these guys. With delusions of grandeur, AA apparently thinks he is so brilliant that he can simply turn to DFA'd options again and work another miracle. The revolving door with the DFA'd folks has now been spinning for four months with nothing but losses to show for it.