To this point, the Braves’ offense has largely disappointed. The lineup, which is without Ronald Acuña Jr. for the rest of the season, cannot seem to gain momentum.
And yet, Atlanta is 47-37 after Wednesday’s 3-1 win over the Giants at Truist Park.
This should tell you how well the Braves’ starting pitchers have performed. The starting rotation is the main reason this group seems to be a near lock for the postseason despite its offensive struggles.
Five observations:
1. By the time Chris Sale walked off the mound after allowing only one run in six innings, he added the latest quality start in a season full of them for Atlanta. And with this start, Sale continued his fantastic first half of the season.
A pressing question: Where would this team be without its starting rotation’s contributions?
The starters are carrying this club.
“The biggest thing here, what they’re doing now, is they’re keeping us in, it seems like, every ballgame, and giving us a chance to put up more runs than the other team,” Adam Duvall said. “Every night, if you’re doing that, from an offensive side of things, that feels good.”
And it has taken pressure off the offense.
“It’s definitely better than feeling like you have to go out and score 10 when you’re having those days where you’re not scoring runs,” Duvall said. “It definitely takes a little pressure off of us. I think what I see is they just pound the zone, they work ahead. I’ve said it before, but it’s fun to play defense behind that because you never feel like you’re standing out there forever. So, that’s cool.”
At the time of their victory over San Francisco, the Braves had three of the National League’s top seven pitchers in terms of ERA (minimum of 80 innings). Reynaldo López leads all starters in the sport with a 1.83 ERA. Sale is fourth in the NL with a 2.71 ERA. Max Fried, who has a 2.91 ERA, is seventh in the NL.
There’s still a week and a half until the All-Star break, and the Braves’ starters will all have a couple more outings. But this rotation has a chance to do something special:
The Braves could have three starting pitchers with ERAs under 3.00 before the break for the first time since 1997, when Greg Maddux (2.36), Tom Glavine (2.62) and John Smoltz (2.92) did this. (The 2009 team had three starters with sub-3 ERAs, but Tommy Hanson, one of them, only started seven games before the break, so it wouldn’t be wise to count this.)
“Everybody on the staff wants to do their job,” Sale said. “We take a lot of pride in what we do. Plus, we know: We have (a) defense that’s gonna play really hard behind us. At any given time, our offense can just erupt. Games like tonight, it’s a little bit closer, but we got the big hits when we needed to, and that’s important. The guys that we have in our bullpen are gonna hold it down for us. Our job as starters is just go out there and use what we have to keep us in the game, and we’re gonna have a chance.”
2. Here’s a telling statistic: The Braves are 6-30 this season when they allow at least four runs. Entering Wednesday, their six such wins were the fewest in the NL.
Still, they comfortably hold a Wild Card spot and aren’t yet out of the running to win the division – though they are nine games behind the Phillies.
Sale made the Giants look helpless. He struck out nine batters and gave up only three hits – two of them in the sixth inning, and one was Matt Chapman’s run-scoring double that barely stayed fair down the left-field line.
He’s been as advertised.
“Even more,” A.J. Minter said. “You’ve heard of how fierce of a competitor he is, but at the same time, he’s a kid that just loves enjoying the game of baseball, and he’s been great in the clubhouse. He’s been super fun just to have, brings a lot of energy, obviously. But a lot of people don’t know, man, he’s just a great dude.”
Sale left the bullpen with a two-run lead. In his first appearance since the injury, Minter pitched a scoreless seventh inning that put a bump on his right shin from a comebacker. Fortunately, he’s OK.
The Braves’ bullpen, which has been terrific, shut the door. The unit deserves credit, but this all goes back to the tone the starters have set.
“When the starting pitching is as good as it’s been, it makes the bullpen that much better,” Minter said. “When those guys can go deep, it gives us a lot more rest, and therefore we become more sharp. It goes hand in hand. And then, two, with the hitters – the starting pitching has really been carrying this team so far. It’s gonna go back and forth. I’m sure the hitters are gonna cover us eventually down the road, so it’s just a matter of weathering the storm.”
3. Duvall’s ability to ignore the number on the big board – his batting average – and focus on his process has come with experience. It’s easier, he said, today than it was 10 years ago because of expected statistics that provide context.
“This is what we see and this is how you should be doing, versus how you are doing,” he said. “You can kind of pull from those numbers and keep the mentality of, ‘Okay, all right, come on. You’re close. You’re close.’ Whereas 10 years ago, (batting average) was the only number that anybody knew of. You know what I mean? Because there’s quite a gap in what that number could be versus what it actually is. That helps.
“And also, having gone through some stretches in my career where things weren’t going exactly how I wanted them to, but then, kept showing up, kept punching the clock, kept working, kept grinding, and then it eventually turned around.”
Before this series, Duvall was batting .094 versus righties, with two extra-base hits. On Wednesday, he doubled off a right-hander for the second time in as many nights – the latest driving in the game’s first run.
All of the sudden, Duvall is on a five-game hitting streak. On Wednesday, he notched his first three-hit game since last season.
He said this run goes back to his walk-off hit against the Pirates, in which he covered a slider away – something opponents have often thrown him during his struggles.
“He’s had some really good at-bats – which is really encouraging to see,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We’ve seen before, when he gets on one of his rolls, he can really do a lot of damage.”
4. If the Braves are to get hot, they will need to do so on the backs of their stars.
Good news there: Austin Riley, whose two-run double in the fifth inning gave the Braves a three-run lead, is batting .365 with a 1.222 OPS over his last 18 games, dating to June 4. He’s hit seven of his 10 home runs in this stretch.
“It’s huge,” Snitker said. “We need those big guys in the middle of the order to go. We’ve been struggling all year to get some consistency. But I just know that when they get that thing going, it can be – as it has been in the past – really fun to watch. It’s been harder to kick-start that whole thing this year, but we’re still gonna work at it. And like I’ve said, I still think our best baseball is ahead of us.”
5. Last season, Sale and Duvall played together in Boston. On Wednesday, they were asked about one another.
Sale on Duvall: “He’s one of the best. I was lucky enough to play with him last year in Boston. Sitting in spring training this year, sitting there going, ‘How has that guy not found a team?’ Across the board, you’re not gonna find a more respected guy. He shows up every day ready to play, and he’s just a great teammate. So, it makes it all the more better when guys like that have success and help the team.”
Duvall on Sale: “Playing with him last year, I knew what he brought to the club. Obviously, him coming here, he probably doesn’t feel like he has to carry the whole load, which is huge. But he goes out there every night, he leaves it all out there. It’s very apparent when you’re playing behind him.”
Stat to know
9.19 - The Braves’ starters lead all of baseball with 9.19 strikeouts per nine innings.
Quotable
“I’m happy for him. It’s just been really good. It’s been fun watching him compete, pitch and how he goes about it. I don’t know that he could be much better, quite honestly. He’s just been strong the whole year, and one of the most competitive guys I’ve ever been around.” - Snitker on Sale
Up next
On Independence Day, Charlie Morton will face Logan Webb, who is San Francisco’s ace. Thursday’s series finale begins at 7:20 p.m.
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