Extra rest comes back to haunt Pérez and his command vs. Phillies

PHILADELPHIA -- The Braves' rotation has exceeded expectations over the past month. But if they experience a few more starts like Martín Pérez’s most recent, there will be greater reason to question whether their starters will be a liability in the postseason.

Pérez has been a valuable member of Atlanta’s rotation throughout the season. But as he issued four first-inning walks and exited during the fourth inning of a 4-2 loss to the Phillies on Saturday night, the veteran lefty certainly didn’t look like a playoff-caliber starter.

“I think it’s just because I’ve been waiting for seven days, and there is nothing I can do about it because that’s the plan,” Pérez said. “But I think it takes too much time for me to [not] be on the mound to face hitters. I know my next one is going to be in five days.”

Essentially, pitching once a week has been good for Cy Young Award candidate Chris Sale. But after allowing the Phillies four runs on seven hits with four walks over a sloppy 3 2/3 innings, Pérez reminded us that pitchers will occasionally fight against extra rest.

Pérez has made both of his past two starts with two extra days of rest. He expects to make his next start on Thursday, which would be normal rest. His revelation that he expects to start the series finale against the Rays could be a clue about the Braves’ rotation plans.

Braves manager Walt Weiss said Reynaldo López will join the rotation when he is activated from the injured list during this upcoming week. Bryce Elder was bumped from Monday’s start against the Phillies in favor of Grant Holmes. If Elder, López and Pérez are the starters for the Rays’ series, AJ Smith-Shawver might be moved to a relief role.

“At some point, we'll have to make a decision there,” Weiss said. “You just can't keep adding guys in the rotation. It's nice to have an extra day or two here or there, but at some point that runs its course. But we really don't know yet.”

Weiss said this a couple hours before Pérez struggled through an ugly outing he blamed on too much rest. The Braves loaded the bases before Zack Wheeler recorded his first out of the night. But their only runs came courtesy of solo homers hit by Ronald Acuña Jr. and Austin Riley.

Consequently, Atlanta wasn't able to extend the momentum Sale helped create during Friday’s series-opening win. The Braves (84-58) still have a four-game lead over the second-place Phillies (80-62) in the National League East. However, with the Dodgers' 6-5 win over the Nationals on Saturday, Atlanta fell behind Los Angeles (85-57) for the NL's No. 2 seed.

Luckily, Atlanta’s rotation entered Saturday with the NL’s fourth-best starting pitching ERA (3.22) going back to Aug. 4, one day after the Trade Deadline.

So, there’s no reason to panic. Some of the criticism the Braves faced after not adding postseason starter ahead of the Deadline has evaporated as their one rotation acquisition, Tyler Mahle, has pitched like a frontline starter. But the 1.48 ERA he has produced through his first five starts for Atlanta is attached to a 4.42 expected ERA (xERA).

So, over the next few weeks, Mahle may not be as good as his Atlanta ERA, and he might not be as bad as the xERA, which accounts for both contact and quality of contact.

But can you confidently send him or any current Braves starter not named Chris Sale to the mound in the postseason? Holmes has seemingly been a bullpen candidate, but the team has already decided it would rather have him, not Elder, start Monday’s series finale.

López doesn’t look like a longterm rotation fit and Smith-Shawver’s control issues might be leading him to the bullpen. So, instead of questioning which starters the Braves might use, the better question might be, which starters will serve as openers in October?

Pérez entered Saturday with a 3.14 ERA in 22 starts this season and a 2.04 ERA over eight starts since the All-Star break. But the 35-year-old hurler doesn’t fit the mold of prototypical postseason starter and he certainly didn’t look like one in this latest outing.

The southpaw walked four of the first seven batters he faced. He threw 35 pitches, just 14 strikes, during the opening frame and was fortunate to allow just two runs. The damage would have been more significant had Acuña Jr. not raced back to the warning track before making a leaping grab of Bryson Stott’s bases-loaded, inning-ending lineout.

“He'll be fine,” Weiss said of Pérez. “He bounces back well and he's been really good for us this year. I expect to continue to be good for us.”