Through this first two weeks of this season, AA’s bullpen restructure and emphasis has been proven spot on. Frequently the Braves fall behind and then make a comeback. With a “lights out” bullpen, this works. On a night like last night, it doesn’t.
The big picture is Braves are now 6 wins and 3 losses. As Meatloaf said “Two out of three ain’t bad.” Meatloaf ball almost always wins a pennant (how many 108 win teams don’t take their division? I am pretty sure that number is zero). But, each of those 3 losses was by 1 run, So, the “pythag” says the Braves ought to be 7 and 2.
The Spencer Strider injury casts a difficult shadow over the season. Basically, we all know that Strider is done for this year. The least invasive possible response is a Platelet Rich Injection which only occasionally works and probably doesn’t get him back this year. Any surgery precludes this year. (Isn’t it good AA got Chris Sale?).
Charlie Morton took the mound and had a little problem with command and control. Walks more than strikeouts (5 to 4). WHIP pushing 2. All in all, with 5 and 2 / thirds at 4 runs, it was not horrendous, but with this line, the Braves bats and pen would usually be able to get a W. But not last night.
A. J. Minter gave up one and then Pierce Johnson gave up 3. The final out was a long fliner into left center from Travis d’Arnaud that was caught on the warning track with Michael Harris on 2nd. But, it was not to be.
Man, Nimmo went off. He was almost their entire offense. When someone is that dialed in, not much you can do.
Teheran pitched about what you’d expect. Good for them for getting some help in a pinch.
Y’all, I am so impressed with Kelenic, and I can definitely see why he busted in Seattle. He should have never been relied upon to be a middle-of-the-order bat, and he’s in the perfect situation here. His OPS is almost entirely BA-driven, and that’s probably by design: he doesn’t need to be anything other than a guy hitting line drives in the 7-spot in the order. 8 of his 11 hits are singles. Good for him.
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Update: derp
There were far too many hangers and mistake pitches by the pitching staff last night — Johnson with the hanging breaking ball that Stewart crushed, the middle-middle changeup from Morton that Nimmo launched over the center field fence, and so on. Even so, the offense kept them in this one right to the end, and things could’ve been a lot different if Ozuna’s 9th inning flyout had traveled just a few more feet.