Many times recently, Braves manager Brian Snitker has said that the team is in the mode of putting everything into winning that day’s game. This is obvious, as it’s September and the Braves are fighting for their postseason lives. They cannot worry about managing a lengthy season because they’re toward the end of the campaign.
The Braves were never going to go undefeated over the final few weeks. That is not how baseball works.
But Thursday’s loss might have hurt a bit more, because the Rockies are bad. The Braves, who aren’t guaranteed a postseason berth, need every game they can get – and thus must take advantage of playing lesser opponents.
Atlanta won the series, but failed to sweep Colorado as it lost Thursday’s game, 3-1, at Truist Park. It’s one loss, but it’s tougher when viewing it through the prism that other National League contenders have been winning and the Braves cannot afford a lull.
Five observations:
1. When Matt Olson grounded out to first base to end the game, the Mets – who did not play Thursday – officially pulled into a tie with the Braves for the National League’s third wild card spot. The Cubs are four games back of the Braves and Mets.
“Honestly, it doesn’t matter if we don’t win games,” Michael Harris II said.
This is true. The Braves can scoreboard-watch all they want, but it won’t do them any good.
They have 22 games remaining. They control their own destiny.
The word Thursday night: Frustrating.
“Well, I mean, it’s just frustrating we couldn’t score – especially when you get another really good start,” Snitker said.
It’s been the story of the season. But the Braves can still do something special this month and in October.
2. Austin Gomber arrived at Truist Park with a 4.69 ERA. But he’d gone at least six innings in each of his last four starts, and five of his past six. He’s had a nice run.
On Thursday, he held the Braves to a run over eight innings. Atlanta scored in the first inning, then not again.
Just like that, the Braves had suffered their latest offensive letdown.
“It’s tough,” Snitker said. “We’ve been battling that all year, really. Up and down, waiting for a run. You’ll see signs of it, and we can’t get any toehold to keep anything going, it doesn’t seem like. It’s a shame because that starting pitching we’re getting is just so good. And the bullpen guys have been really good. We gotta turn the page and get after it (Friday).”
Before Thursday, Gomber had logged two starts in which he went eight innings while allowing one or no runs – one against Oakland this season, the other versus San Diego in 2021.
Thursday was his third such outing in 109 big-league starts.
What did he do well? Asked this question, Harris paused for a few seconds as he thought.
“I guess he was mixing, he was mixing up well,” Harris said. “Mixing up (velocity). Hitting the spots he wanted to, throwing it out of the zone when he needed to.”
Gomber, who averaged 90 mph with his four-seam fastball, sped through the middle innings. He needed 92 pitches to complete the eight frames. He was efficient. The Braves had some quick outs.
Was it Gomber or the Braves’ at-bats?
“Probably little of both, of expanding a little bit and (him) keeping us off-balance,” Olson said. “... We always want to stay aggressive. Sometimes, you’re gonna have those innings and it came back to bite us today.”
3. Reynaldo López threw well, but allowed two solo home runs over six innings. And with this year’s Braves offense, sometimes those two runs are fatal.
López said losing this game at this time of year is “a little frustrating.”
“No one wants to give up homers, no one wants to walk guys on four straight pitches, no one wants to lose games,” he said through interpreter Franco García. “But I think the silver lining is we won the series, we’re just gonna turn the page from this game and focus on Toronto for this next series.”
This wasn’t López’s fault. Then again, sometimes we must remember who the Braves are sending out there in 2024.
They’ve fielded Ramón Laureano, Gio Urshela and Whit Merrifield. But Merrifield is still out of the lineup – he could return Friday – after being hit in the head, so Luke Williams has started each of the last two games at second base.
This isn’t meant as disrespect to those guys. They’re major leaguers and have earned their opportunities. But they’re not Atlanta’s regulars.
Still, the Braves hoped to sweep the Rockies.
“Yeah, I mean, obviously you’re gonna have some games like this, but that’s one of the ones you want to come through in,” Harris said. “I feel like we did a good job, had some good swings, but just missed or didn’t get the results we wanted. Yeah, ultimately you want to come out with a game like this.”
Especially when the starter pitches as López did.
“”It was just frustrating we couldn’t get anything going offensively,” Snitker said. “You hate to let a really strong outing like that (go to waste).”
4. In the seventh inning, Snitker brought in Luke Jackson in a one-run game. He walked the leadoff man. That guy stole second and advanced to third on Sean Murphy’s errant throw that ended up in center field. Then he scored on a sacrifice fly.
Jackson has struggled since the Braves acquired him. But perhaps Snitker didn’t really have many other options.
“Our go-to guys can’t pitch every night,” Snitker said. “We’re gonna have to spread that thing around. Our go-to guys, the leverage guys, have been unbelievable, but they can’t pitch every day. Everybody’s gonna have to be a part of this thing so we don’t just – even though we don’t have a lot of games left, we got enough that we can wear those guys out if we’re not careful. So other guys are gonna have to step up and do the job also.”
John Brebbia pitched a scoreless ninth, with two strikeouts, in his first outing with the club. Maybe he can give the Braves some quality innings and protect their best relievers.
Make no mistake, though: This loss was on the offense.
“It’s baseball, it’s not gonna happen all the time,” Snitker said of failing to sweep Colorado. “But we gotta treat it like that. And you just can’t panic over one game. We’re just gonna have to hopefully get our offense going more consistently, and take some heat off the bullpen.”
5. At 67-74, the Blue Jays are in last place in the American League East. They’ve been a massive disappointment. This is a lost season for their fans.
But they do have some talent. They’ll pose a tougher challenge than the Rockies, so the Braves must be ready.
On Friday, Max Fried will start against right-hander Kevin Gausman, the former Brave. Spencer Schwellenbach will face Toronto right-hander Jose Berrios on Saturday, with Chris Sale pitching opposite righty Yariel Rodriguez on Sunday.
“Very confident,” López said of his team’s current lineup. “Confident in all the guys that are in there. And I think they’re the reason that we win games. As starters and as pitchers, our job is to keep the game close and give them a chance to put up runs and win the game. So really, it’s all the confidence in the world, and they’re the reason we’re winning games when they put up runs.”
Stat to know
11 - López tallied a career-high 11 strikeouts.
Quotable
“We came in, (López has) been throwing great all year, threw great again tonight. We like our chances with him on the mound. We just couldn’t get anything going.” - Olson on missing a chance to sweep
Up next
Friday’s series opener vs. Toronto begins at 7:20 p.m.
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