ATLANTA -- For the Braves, the theme this season has been inconsistency.
After an 0-7 start to the season, the team failed to get more than a game on either side of .500 before Atlanta’s season took a nosedive and the Braves (48-67) now find themselves in the fourth place in the NL East -- 18 games behind the first-place Phillies.
The first two games of a five-game set against the Marlins epitomized Atlanta’s inconsistent ways.
A night after the Braves mounted a four-run comeback on Thursday -- fueled by a two-homer, five-RBI game by rookie Drake Baldwin -- they were dominated by the Marlins on Friday, losing 5-1, while mustering just two hits.
Miami took a five-run lead through six innings and ran with it as the Marlins knocked around Braves starting pitcher Bryce Elder for five runs on seven hits and two walks over his six innings. Elder now has a 6.12 ERA in his 19 starts this season.
“I thought I made a lot of good pitches tonight, way more than it showed,” Elder said. “I think the one to [Troy] Johnston was just brutal. Even the sinker in on the [Heriberto Hernández] homer didn’t have the action on it I wanted. At the end of the day, I didn’t get the job done. I’ll have to go back this week and get ready to go. I just have to be better.”
Braves manager Brian Snitker said consistency has been a concern with Elder. The 26-year-old right-hander has given up five or more runs in five of his starts this year and has given up less than five runs in 14 of his starts.
“It’s just kind of inconsistencies I think,” Snitker said. “He’s been really, really good at times, and then not so good. Tonight, I don’t think he threw the ball that bad. He’s kind of like our team. He’s never really gotten on a roll. He’s had some good games, but in between the good ones, there just hasn’t been a lot of consistency, like our season.”
The Braves should have some reinforcements in their starting rotation sometime in the next couple of weeks as Chris Sale is slated to make a rehab start with Triple-A Gwinnett on Tuesday, and he is eligible to come off the injured list on Aug, 19.
Sure, every starting pitcher that was on Atlanta’s Opening Day rotation is currently on the injured list, but the club's offense often fails to score runs when the starting pitcher -- which has been mostly by committee this season -- puts together a solid outing.
A prime example was on July 30 at Kansas City. Starting pitcher Joey Wentz allowed just one hit over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, Atlanta’s bullpen got the club through nine innings without allowing a run, but the offense failed to provide any run support as the Braves fell 1-0 in 10 innings.
“I honestly don’t know,” Snitker said. “As much hoping that I [have] that we do better the next day -- I kind of like to think, ‘Maybe this is the start of something' -- it just hasn’t clicked for whatever reason. I don’t know that you can point to anything honestly.”
The Braves scored eight runs on 12 hits on Thursday before scoring one run on two hits Friday. The Braves have hit home runs, but many of them have been solo shots, as was the case on Friday when Atlanta’s lone run came via a Jurickson Profar solo blast in the bottom of the sixth.
Though the last two nights fit the narrative of a team that has been inconsistent on offense this year, the Braves ran into a buzzsaw named Edward Cabrera on Friday. The right-hander allowed one run on two hits over eight innings and he struck out a season-high 11 batters.
“”He was pretty sharp,” Snitker said. “He’s got that changeup that’s really hard and moves a lot. He’s throwing the ball really well. He’s always had a really good arm. He’s throwing that hard changeup and breaking balls. His fastball was really good tonight, too. He hadn’t been throwing a whole lot of them.”