ATLANTA – A difficult weekend for the Braves in Pittsburgh began with back-to-back losses to the Pirates and ended with a season-ending injury to Ronald Acuña Jr.. His second ACL tear in less than three years overshadowed a victory that avoided the sweep on Sunday and another gem. from Chris Sale, who is pitching like it’s 2018.
The Braves have lost 14 of 25, including an 8-4 series-opening loss on Monday against the Washington Nationals and Mitchell Parker. The rookie starter limited the Braves to two hits in seven scoreless innings before they turned to him and the bullpen for four runs in the eighth, including a two-run homer by Adam Duvall, who replaced Acuña in right field.
Atlanta has hit .224 with an average of less than 3.5 runs in this 25-game stretch, after hitting .277 and averaging 5.7 runs over its first 26 games, including 19 wins.
Charlie Morton allowed four runs in the first inning Monday and 12 hits and eight runs in 5 1/3 innings. If the six-time NL East champions want to chase the emerging Philadelphia Phillies, they’ll need more than an erratic offense and continued strong pitching from starters Sale, Max Fried (1.70 ERA in his last six) and Reynaldo López (Effectiveness of 1.75). ).
#Brave lost 8-4 in the opener of a four-game series with the Nationals, the 14th loss in the last 25 games for Atlanta. Morton allowed all the runs, including four in the first inning.
– David O’Brien (@DOBrienATL) May 27, 2024
They can’t expect that much from Morton, 40 (ERA 4.29).
Here are three takeaways from the recent action:
1. Sale that offers total value
It’s not just that Sale has won seven straight starts, the most by a Bravo since Russ Ortiz won eight in a row in 2003. It’s the way Sale is doing it. The 35-year-old is generating strikeout and groundball rates similar to his best years with the Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox, when he finished six straight in the top five of the Cy Young Award.
Sale has a 1.17 ERA during his winning streak, with 58 strikeouts and four walks in 46 innings. And even that doesn’t fully illustrate how good the lanky lefty has been lately, how overwhelming he’s been with a repertoire that relies heavily on precise control of 94- to 97-mph four-seamers, sinkers and devastating sliders.
He has a 0.69 ERA in his last six starts, with one run or none in each. In five starts in May, Sale led the MLB playoffs with a 0.56 ERA and posted an absurd 45 strikeout ratio to two walks in 32 innings.
He hasn’t returned to the World Series since winning a ring with the 2018 Red Sox and hasn’t been healthy for a full season since. If the Braves have any chance of returning to the World Series for the first time since winning it in 2021, or simply getting past the NLDS after back-to-back losses in that round to the Phillies, they must keep Sale healthy.
The Braves hope for an offensive spark with the return of catcher Sean Murphy after a two-month stint on the disabled list with an oblique strain and third baseman Austin Riley, who missed 13 games with an intercostal (lateral) strain. . They both returned on Monday.
Murphy was 1 for 4 with an RBI and an infield single after hitting two home runs and a double in four rehab games. Riley, batting second for the second time in his MLB career, went 0-for-4 with a strikeout in his first game since he was injured swinging on May 12.
Murphy also was injured while swinging on Opening Day. His 4.9 fWAR was third-highest among MLB catchers last season when he hit 17 of his 21 home runs before the break and made the All-Star team.
Chadwick Tromp had a .259 OBP, no home runs and a .625 OPS backing up catcher Travis d’Arnaud while Murphy was on the disabled list, and the Braves will keep Tromp as the third catcher for now. Manager Brian Snitker said he could use one of his catchers as a pinch-hitter, possibly for left-hander Jarred Kelenic against a tough left-handed reliever.
Kelenic had been part of a left field platoon with Duvall, but will now have the opportunity to play every day with Duvall in right.
“He’s ready to do his thing,” Duvall said of Kelenic. “He has been playing well and we need him. “There are going to have to be guys who step up and make an impact.”
3. Fight for the fifth starter
The Braves have used five pitchers in 10 games in the fifth starter role, and the only one with an ERA below 4.66 or an unbeaten record in those starts is AJ Smith-Shawver, who went on the disabled list with a strain. on the oblique afterwards. its season debut on Thursday.
Smith-Shawver got a no-decision in a 3-0 win at Wrigley Field when he allowed just three hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings, but he tried to pitch despite the tightness in his side and perhaps made the situation worse. injury by not saying anything before.
The others were fifth: Bryce Elder (1-2, 6.46 ERA in five starts), Darius Vines (0-1, 4.66 in two), Allan Winans (0-1, 10.80 in one), Ray Kerr (0 -1, 11.25 in one).
Ian Anderson is recovering from Tommy John surgery and is expected to begin a rehab assignment soon, and the hope is that he can join the rotation around the All-Star break.
(Photo by Chris Sale: Justin Berl//Keynote USA/Getty Images)
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