Today’s Three Things: It’s Groundhog Day for the Atlanta Braves in Target Field

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Atlanta got in an early hole that the offense couldn’t dig out of

The Atlanta Braves ran Monday night back, losing game two to the Minnesota Twins 4-1 in Target Field on Tuesday night.

Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.

The Turning Point

The easy answer is to, once again, point to the first inning here.

Tyler Mahle was making his third Braves start and just like Martín Pérez last night, Mahle got tagged in the first. This one came after two outs, and was because of two pitches: a middle-middle fastball that was ripped for a double off the wall by Ryan Jeffers, and a 1-1 splitter that caught too much of the plate to Josh Bell, who launched it to the right-center seats at 110 off the bat.

After a mostly-non-competitive walk to Kody Clemens, Mahle locked in and got out of the inning thanks to a lineout to Michael Harris II, who battled an awkward sun/shade terminator to snag the Royce Lewis line drive.

Today’s Player of the Game

Despite the two early runs, I’m giving it to Tyler Mahle, with special consideration given to Michael Harris (three hits, two doubles).

Mahle was able to lock in after the first inning, and while he didn’t have his best swing-and-miss stuff (only 8 whiffs in 45 swings), he was brutally efficient with the stuff that he did have. After throwing 26 pitches to finish the first inning, he started mowing through Minnesota hitters, cruising the rest of the way with only four singles allowed across his next 5.2 innings.

Mahle’s (top to bottom) 4S, splitter, and cutter velocities and pitch count per inning

He was lifted after Brooks Lee hit a two-out single in the 7th despite being at just 76 pitches (58 strikes), as Walt Weiss decided to pull his bullpen lever and chase a win.

We talk about this with Chris Sale a lot, about how he’s not always on his A game but still able to get through an outing with the Braves having a chance to win the game. Mahle showed, for at least one night, that he’s in that same vein.

What You’ll Be Talking About

Once again, this offense.

The Braves finished with just six hits tonight, scoring their only run on a solo shot from Drake Baldwin in the sixth inning. Those hits came from mostly just two players, with Harris having three (including two doubles), Baldwin adding the homer and a single, and Ozzie Albies having a single. Atlanta stranded all six runners they had tonight, as well, going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

It’s not for lack of trying - the Braves had fifteen hard-hit balls, including nine over 100 mph, although only four of the fifteen fell for hits.

Atlanta grounded out thirteen times to just four flyouts (and a few lineouts, too), contributing to the frustration.

Squandering the few scoring opportunities they get isn’t going to stop the skid. After Baldwin’s homer and back-to-back two-out singles in the 6th, Minnesota pulled Zebby Matthews for reliever Kody Funderburk, who got a strikeout to end the inning. The Braves didn’t get another runner until the 9th, and he was stranded on base after a groundout, a strikeout, and a flyout.

At this point, I don’t really know what else to say. Atlanta’s offense needs to be better, and while it was understandable to struggle against playoff-caliber starters from the Yankees and Diamondbacks, they’ve been shut down by Minnesota’s rotation and bullpen. They’ve got to be better, and that’s all there is to 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 made a rotation change for Wednesday, with AJ Smith-Shawver being called up to make the start. He’ll face off with Taj Bradley (9-5, 3.98) at 1:40 PM ET.