The Braves begin a 10-game trip Friday in Denver. Once it seemed like a chance for them to beat up on inferior opponents out West. Suddenly, it feels as if the trip could end with the Braves chasing several more teams for one of the three National League wild cards.
The Braves have lost five games in a row. It’s not just the quantity of losses. It’s also the quality, or lack of it. The Braves had plenty of lopsided losses and played lots of bad baseball while losing five of seven games during the homestand.
The 16-7 loss to the Brewers at Truist Park on Thursday was their third noncompetitive effort in the past four games. The Brewers beat the Braves by an aggregate score of 34-12 in three games.
“Ugly game,” manager Brian Snitker said. “Ugly series. Maybe we can fly across the country and start something good.”
I wouldn’t count on it. The Rockies and Angels are bad. The Giants are just OK. But it’s not as if the Braves can pencil in victories against any team nowadays.
The Brewers came to town with losses in six of their past nine games, including two against the Braves in Milwaukee. They left with their first series sweep since June 24-26 versus Texas. The Brewers swept the Braves in Atlanta for the first time since the 2016 season.
The Braves had a chance to get back in the NL East race when they surged last week as the Phillies floundered. Now they are back to sweating a wild-card berth. The Braves started the day a half-game ahead of the Mets for the third and final wild card. After the Braves lost to the Brewers, the Mets won at Colorado to move ahead.
The Mets haven’t been playing great; the Braves just have been worse. Mediocre baseball was enough to keep the Braves in the wild-card race in the NL. Bad baseball now has the Braves looking up at the Mets.
“How quick it can change,” Snitker said. “That’s why you never take anything for granted.”
The Braves usually can rely on their pitching. But four consecutive short outings by starters have taxed the bullpen. Braves outfielder Luke Williams cleaned up Thursday’s games. He gave up two runs in two innings, which was better than what starter Charlie Morton could manage.
Morton surrendered four home runs for the first time in 374 career starts. He was done after allowing eight runs in 2-2/3 innings. The Braves must hope Morton, 40, isn’t fading. He had a 3.89 ERA at the end of June. He has a 4.47 ERA now.
Morton has been tagged for 11 homers in his past six starts after allowing only seven in his first 15 outings.
“I look back and the way my ball is spinning, the way the ball is moving, it’s no better or worse than normal,” Morton said. “I just think (the Brewers) are a really good team and the windows for me today weren’t big at all.”
Everything was hard for the Braves during the homestand.
The Marlins shut them out behind a starter (Edward Cabrera) who came in with a 6.65 ERA. The Braves were blanked again Monday as the Brewers scored seven runs in the first four innings. The visitors twice came back from deficits to win Wednesday. The series finale was the worst loss of them all.
The offense looked good when the Braves were bashing 21 homers over seven games. They hit six home runs in the next seven games. The Braves were hopelessly behind when Marcell Ozuna and Austin Riley hit homers Thursday. They were empty runs from the two best hitters in a lineup filled with cast-offs from other teams.
The number of injuries the Braves have sustained, and the value of the players hurt, would test any team. But the Dodgers have had it worse, and they began Thursday 7½ games ahead of the Braves in the National League. The Braves, once were lauded for their organizational depth. This year they’ve done a lot of hoping and wishing while acquiring players who weren’t doing much for other teams.
They haven’t done much for the Braves, either. The Braves sent one of them packing Thursday. Eddie Rosario hit .115 with a .463 OPS in 24 games with the Braves. Adam Duvall (.572 OPS), Whit Merrifield (.597 OPS) and Ramon Laureano (.593 IPS) are still here. They were all in the lineup Thursday. Orlando Arcia (.640 OPS) batted fifth.
The best of the players the Braves acquired, Jorge Soler, got the day off Thursday. His defensive blunder in right field Wednesday opened the door for the Brewers to score. Soler hadn’t played the outfield for the Giants before the Braves acquired him last month. His inability to do it well for the Braves cost them a game with Cy Young-candidate Chris Sale on the mound.
The Braves are scuffling. Morton said the clubhouse isn’t fracturing from the stress.
“There is a lot of even-keel guys in there, good people, good human beings that are professionals and take responsibility for themselves,” Morton said. “The average person, I think, would start to blame other people and start to be critical of other people. I just don’t see a lot of that.
“That’s when the room becomes toxic is when you start getting upset at other people, getting upset at the situation. That’s when things take a turn for the worse. I don’t see that in that room.”
Morton’s point is well taken. He’s speaking from the experience of 15 big-league seasons. Finger pointing may not be the best thing for the Braves right now. Then again, maybe they could use some internal dissension, if done in the right way, because right now nothing is working for them.
The Braves start a 10-game trip this weekend against teams with worse records. It was supposed to be a time for them to make hay in the wild-card standings. But no contending team is playing as badly as the Braves right now.
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