ATLANTA -- Rain, weather-related travel issues and key injuries have all played a part during the 1-6 stretch that has humbled the Braves over the past week.
Instead of distancing themselves from a frustrating road trip, the Braves extended their woes by losing a pair of games on Wednesday at Truist Park. They took a 7-2 loss to the Giants after Tuesday’s suspended game resumed, and then suffered a 7-5 setback in Wednesday’s nightcap.
“We're missing a couple pieces, but we kind of dealt with that most of the year,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “We've won a lot of games, but nothing is coming easy for us right now.”
Though the Braves have lost six of their last seven, they still own the MLB’s third-best record (46-27) and a 6 1/2-game lead in the NL East. So, nobody is feeling sorry for them. But it’s easy to identify why this past week has been so rough.
“We’ve been going so well, it’s just a little bump in the road,” Braves third baseman Austin Riley said after producing four hits and four 100-mph exit velocities across Wednesday’s two games.
Ronald Acuña Jr. strained his left hamstring during the opener of this rough seven-game stretch. Weiss said the strain wasn’t as significant as the one that sidelined Acuña from May 2-19. But with the strain being in the same exact spot, the team will be more cautious with the 2023 NL MVP, creating reason to wonder if he’ll return before the All-Star break.
Even though Acuña is enduring a down year in terms of his standards, his dynamic presence in the leadoff spot is missed. He’s collected 15 steals, produced a .794 OPS and hit seven homers. The right fielder’s absence has also weakened the team at the shortstop position.
With Acuña sidelined, Mauricio Dubón, the team’s best shortstop, has consistently played the outfield. Jorge Mateo has looked like the second-best option at short. But Weiss has still occasionally given some starts to Ha-Seong Kim with the hope he might start looking like the guy the Braves envisioned when they signed him to a one-year, $20 million deal in January.
Kim went hitless in Tuesday’s suspended game and is now hitting .085 (5-for-59) through his first 18 games. He is one of just 17 players in Braves history to hit below .100 in through their first 18 games of a season. Unfortunately, Sandy León, Atlanta’s current backup catcher, recently joined this same list.
With Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy both on the injured list, Leon served as Atlanta’s primary catcher most of the past month. He’s now the backup to Baldwin, who came off the injured list on Tuesday and produced MLB’s longest homer of the season with his first swing since straining his right oblique muscle on May 18.
So, the Braves went through most of their 1-4 road trip without both Acuña and Baldwin. Then, approximately five minutes after Baldwin returned with his 473-foot blast, Michael Harris II exited Tuesday’s game with lower back tightness.
Harris might need just a couple days of rest. But like Acuña, he’s dealing with a specific ailment for the second time in less than a month.
When it has rained, it poured, literally.
Remember when the last Thursday's game against the White Sox was rained out? Well, weather significantly delayed the team’s trip from Chicago to New York. The team got to its Manhattan hotel around 6 a.m. ET.
A little more than 12 hours later, Spencer Strider’s velocity dipped below 90 mph, forcing him to exit during the fourth inning of the series opener against the Mets. Strider, who has since been diagnosed with right elbow inflammation, could return at some point during the final weeks of this season.
But for now, the Braves are filling his void with JR Ritchie (MLB’s No. 58 and Atlanta's No. 2 prospect), who surrendered three homers in the second inning of Wednesday night’s loss. Weiss has reason to be concerned about the depth of a rotation that also includes Chris Sale, Bryce Elder, Martín Pérez and Grant Holmes.
When the Braves returned from New York on Sunday night, weather forced them to circle Atlanta. At one point, the pilot said they may need to land elsewhere because their fuel supply was getting low.
Fortunately, the Braves landed safely in Atlanta and the team returned to Truist Park around 12 a.m. ET, a few hours later than scheduled.
Now, the team is just waiting for the clock to strike midnight and put an end to what has been a nightmare stretch.