Today’s Three Things: Braves Prove To Be MLB’s Ultimate ‘Get Right’ Opponent in June
Matthew Liberatore was MLB's worst qualified starter in June...and cruised through six innings versus Atlanta
The Atlanta Braves capped off their rough June with a 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in Truist Park on Tuesday night.
Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
As much as I want to call the game after Nathan Church’s three-run homer in the fourth inning, let’s talk about the bottom of the 8th.
Having scored in the previous inning after Matthew Liberatore finally left the game - more on that, don’t worry - the Braves got to work against lefty JoJo Romero, who gave up those two seventh-inning hits that resulted in a run being hung on George Soriano.
Mauricio Dubón led things off with a one-out single to left, going down to scoop a changeup off the dirt and depositing it into left field. Mike Yastrzemski followed that up with an infield single, hitting a soft tapper the other way to third against a shifted José Fermín.
And then things almost went off the rails for St. Louis. Ryan Fernandez entered the game, getting a strikeout of Austin Riley but allowing both runners to advance on a wild pitch. Walt Weiss started pulling his levers at that point, calling on Rowdy Tellez to pinch-hit for catcher Joey Bart. Fernandez brought a run in on yet another wild pitch before Tellez drew a walk, being replaced on the basepaths by Ha-Seong Kim. Dominic Smith, inexplicably pinch-hitting for Jorge Mateo, then drew yet another walk to load the bases for Drake Baldwin, who had previously broken a 0-for-36 hitless stretch with a single in this game.
Baldwin did not start a hitting streak here, weakly grounding out to second base to end the threat and stranding the bases loaded.
Today’s Player of the Game
Jorge Mateo.
Starting at shortstop for the first time in a week, Mateo almost singlehandedly manufactured Atlanta’s first run in the third inning. Reaching via line drive to left to open the inning, he stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then scored via Ozzie Albies sacrifice fly.
Mateo scored Atlanta’s second run, as well, walking with two outs in the 7th, advancing to second on Baldwin’s single, and scoring from there when Ozzie Albies sent one back up the middle.
I know this won’t happen, given they pinch-hit for him in the 8th, but I’m starting to wonder if a potential minor ‘shake-up’ to a struggling offense could be letting Mateo lead off. His elite speed would give the Braves a dynamic at the top of the order that even a healthy Ronald Acuña Jr. hasn’t been able to provide this season, and right now, Atlanta needs every single sort of advantage they can get.
What You’ll Be Talking About
The frustrating, but not surprising success of Matthew Liberatore.
The lefty was at one point considered the future ace of the Cardinals rotation, with his curveball invoking comparisons to Max Fried. Things have been rough in the majors, however, with the lefty sporting a 5.56 ERA/5.26 FIP this season.
But in June, he’s been dreadful. Among all MLB starters with 15 or more innings this month, Liberatore’s 10.34 ERA was dead last. He’s produced a -0.5 fWAR this month alone, putting up a 16.7% strikeout rate and allowing opposing hitters to bat .333.
So of course, he gave the Cardinals five innings of one-hit, one-run ball with nine strikeouts. He did walk four, so it’s not like it was complete domination, but he navigated through trouble in almost every inning and never allowed the Braves offense to get going.
For Liberatore, it was the slider that was the star of the show for him today, picking up nine whiffs (a 56% mark) and with only two being put into play on 16 swings. He allowed just three hard-hit balls on his seven batted ball events, a much better outcome than Martín Pérez’s six hard-hit balls and nineteen BBEs.
Atlanta finished the game just 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base, which was mostly their fault. The Braves leadoff hitter got on in each of the 2nd through 6th innings, and only Mateo in the third was able to come around to score (and he manufactured that run almost solely by himself).
This wraps an embarrassing month for the Braves offense, one in which they were near or at the bottom of the league in several significant offensive categories:
Runs scored = 77 (30th, 10 below the next closest team)
Home runs = 19 (30th)
Batting average = .213 (30th)
OPS = .599 (30th)
Total bases = 249 (30th, and 36 below the next-closest team)
wRC+ = 65 (30th, and 14 below the next-closest team)
It’s a complete offensive collapse unlike one I’ve ever seen, and I genuinely don’t know what to do about it.
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 contest.
What’s Next for the Braves?
The Braves are going to attempt to even up the series tomorrow, with Reynaldo López (3-1, 3.47) taking on Michael McGreevy (3-6, 3.12) at 7:15 PM ET. Manager Walt Weiss said before today’s game that Atlanta’s goal for López is five innings.