Bullpen’s been solid despite walks

DENVER – When three relievers limited the Rockies to two hits and one walk for four scoreless innings Saturday night while the Braves came back from a 2-0 deficit to force extra innings, it looked like one of Atlanta’s early season strengths would contribute in a big way to another win.

Then Arodys Vizcaino entered in the 10th inning and gave up a one-out double and three two-out walks (one intentional), forcing in the winning run with a four-pitch free pass to Tony Wolters to give the Rockies a 3-2 win.

That meltdown notwithstanding, it’s been an overally impressive early showing by the Braves bullpen, which worked three more scoreless innings -- including a perfect ninth for Vizcaino -- in Sunday’s 4-0 series-clinching win to lower its ERA to 1.40 and opponents’ average to .170, those marks ranked third and second in the majors, respectively.

Braves relievers are 13th in strikeouts (36) and 10th in innings (38 2/3), and Atlanta’s bullpen is only of only two (along with the Cubs) to not allow a homer this season, despite the Braves playing the past three games at hitter-friendly Coors Field following a home series against the Nationals, who are tied for third-most homers in the majors.

Walks have been Braves relievers’ only bugaboo: They have a majors-high 27 walks and Vizcaino’s six walks in 4 2/3 innings are the second-most among major league relievers, one behind the Rays’ Ryan Yarbrough, who’s pitched almost twice as many innings (eight).

On Sunday, Vizcaino got back on the proverbial horse and pitched a perfect ninth inning against the Rockies.

If the Braves hope to have a winning season the bullpen is going to play a big part, especially considering the makeup of the starting rotation. That’s why the Braves plan to stay with an eight-man bullpen rather than seven, which had been the norm before last season.

“Just don’t have starters going seven and eight innings anymore,” said manager Brian Snitker, whose Braves had only one starter make it through six innings in the team’s first eight games before Sean Newcomb became the second to do it with six scoreless innings Sunday.

“Like I say, somebody asks ‘Why you got eight (relievers)?’ Because we can’t have 10, really,” Snitker said, smiling.

Two Braves starters, Mike Foltynewicz and Newcomb, have never pitched as many as 160 innings in a season, veteran Brandon McCarthy – who worked six innings Friday in a win at Colorado -- last pitched 100 innings in 2014 and veteran Anibal Sanchez, the current fifth starter, hasn’t pitched as many as 160 innings since 2013.

Rehabbing rookie starter Luiz Gohara, who’s expected to join the rotation in late April or early May, never pitched 70 innings in a season before totaling 153 innings last season between the minors and a September call-up.

Snitker also said it would be important not to overwork his key relievers despite the temptation to do so when the team has a chance to win a game.

Left-hander Sam Freeman pitched 1 1/3 hitless innings with two strikeouts Saturday and retired both batters he faced Sunday to give him seven appearances in nine Braves games, tying him for the major league lead in appearances. Dan Winkler and Peter Moylan, each of whom has had two elbow surgeries, have made five appearances apiece in the Braves’ first nine games.

Most of that trio’s appearances were less than an inning at a time, and Shane Carle was the only Braves reliever among the 33 pitchers with more than 5 1/3 relief innings before Sunday, when Carle pitched another 1 1/3 innings of one-hit ball to give him 7 2/3 innings in four appearances.

Snitker stayed away from a few relievers Friday including Freeman, and Newcomb’s stellar performance Sunday allowed the Braves to use just three relievers in the win.

“We tried to use the off day and (Friday) to give a couple of these guys two days off,” Snitker said. “You’ve got to be aware of that too; we’ve got a long way to go.

“When you put yourself in a position to win games, you go into it not wanting to use somebody, then the situation changes and it’s tough not to. We’ve got to be conscious of the fact that we’ve got a lot of baseball left to play.