SAN DIEGO -- The good news is the Braves don’t have any more scheduled visits to Petco Park this year. The bad news is their recent struggles have extended far beyond San Diego’s city limits.
How bad have the Braves been on the road against the Padres? Well, with a 5-2 loss on Wednesday night, they have now lost each of the past nine games played at Petco Park, dating back to the 2024 NL Wild Card Series. They have been outscored 39-19 in these contests.
But location doesn’t currently seem to matter for the Braves, who have lost 10 of their past 13 games. Their NL East lead has shrunk from 9 1/2 games to 4 1/2 games during this rough stretch.
“The teams we're playing are catching us at a good time for them,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “It's all about when you play teams. It's really not necessarily who you're playing, it's always about when you play teams in this league. We're down right now. We're struggling a little bit on both sides, with pitching and scoring runs. It's not going to last.”
Here are a few takeaways as the Braves head to San Francisco with their first four-game losing streak of the season.
Mental break
Drake Baldwin was given a chance to decompress when he didn’t start Wednesday’s series finale. But the 2025 NL Rookie of the Year struck out after entering as a pinch-hitter in the sixth. He is 1-for-31 with 19 strikeouts since homering in his first plate appearance after spending nearly a full month (May 19-June 15) on the injured list with a left oblique strain.
Baldwin has one more three-strikeout game (four) over his past eight games than he did over the 172 career games played before going on the injured list. The Braves certainly miss Ronald Acuña Jr., who may not return until after the All-Star break. But it’s no coincidence that their offensive decline began around the time Baldwin was injured.
The Braves ranked third among all MLB teams with the .765 OPS they produced over the 48 games played through May 18, the day Baldwin strained his oblique. The .680 OPS they’ve produced in 31 games since that date ranks tied for MLB’s fourth-worst mark.
“We have the personnel,” Weiss said. “It's the same personnel that was really good the first couple months or month and a half [of the season]. They're going to come around, but right now, we’re having a hard time.”
Taxing the bullpen
Wonder why the Braves’ bullpen has been shorthanded a couple times this season, with the most recent occurrence coming in Tuesday night’s 10-inning loss to the Padres? They have had a starting pitcher complete six innings in just five of their past 25 games going back to May 26. Bryce Elder has done so three times. Grant Holmes and Martín Pérez have both done so once during this stretch.
Pérez’s bid to aid the bullpen on Tuesday was marred by the 110.4 mph Xander Bogaerts liner that hit his right hamstring to begin the second inning. The veteran left-hander pitched into the fifth inning. But he issued four walks and allowed three earned runs and didn’t record an out beyond the fourth. This marked the first time in 12 starts that he hasn’t completed at least five innings.
“[The liner] got me really good,” Pérez said. “It wasn’t something that was bothering me when I was pitching. I just walked too many guys and got behind too many times. It was just one of those days.”
Memorable first
Joey Bart’s two-run homer against JP Sears in Wednesday’s sixth prevented the Braves from being shut out for the fourth time in their past five games at Petco Park. More importantly, it gave the suburban Atlanta native a memory he’ll always cherish.
“It was good,” Bart said. “I just wish I could have come through a couple more times.”
This is something many Braves have repeatedly said over the past few weeks. The team has hit .154 (14-for-91) with a .432 OPS with runners in scoring position in the past 13 games.
Bart’s homer was the first he’s hit since the Braves acquired him from the Pirates on Thursday. The former Buford High School and Georgia Tech star will have a chance to make many more contributions for Atlanta. Veteran catcher Sean Murphy might remain sidelined into the second half of August with a left middle finger fracture.