ATLANTA -- Instead of riding the wave of momentum created by Sunday’s thrilling comeback win over the Phillies, the Braves have spent the past few days creating reason to wonder if their offense is the most significant concern.
Reynaldo López struggled as he made his return from the injured list in a 7-2 loss to the Rays on Wednesday night at Truist Park. His rough outing extended what has been a trying few days for the back end of Atlanta’s rotation. But the Braves’ greater concern may be an offense that has totaled three runs over the past three days.
As the Braves were enduring their third straight loss, the Phillies were claiming a convincing win over the Astros. Atlanta now has a three-game lead over Philadelphia with 16 games remaining in the NL East race. The two teams will begin a three-game series on Friday in Atlanta.
Here are a couple takeaways from the Braves’ latest loss:
Prolonged offensive struggles
Everything seemed to be fine when Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a game-tying homer in the eighth inning of Sunday’s comeback win in Philadelphia. Along with helping Atlanta gain a five-game division lead, that home run prevented the Braves from exiting Wednesday having scored two runs or fewer in five straight games.
It should be noted that Atlanta was victimized by some tough luck in this latest setback. Just two of the eight balls the club hit 100 mph or harder resulted in a hit. They were Drake Baldwin’s fourth-inning homer and Acuña’s sixth-inning double, which set the stage for a Matt Olson sac fly.
Two of the three balls Acuña put in play were hit 100 mph or harder. He's currently boasting a 1.132 OPS in September. No other Braves player (min. 20 at-bats) has an OPS above .700 this month.
Process of elimination
If the posteason started tomorrow, Chris Sale, Tyler Mahle and Grant Holmes would be the Braves' top candidates to make starts. Martin Pérez could get back in the mix with a strong showing in Thursday’s series finale against the Rays. But the veteran lefty weakened his candidacy when he walked four and surrendered seven hits over 3 2/3 innings on Saturday.
Unfortunately, that was just the start of a bad stretch for the back end of the Braves’ rotation.
Bryce Elder’s availability during the early part of the postseason will be questionable as he recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery performed on Tuesday. AJ Smith-Shawver looked more like a reliever than a starter in Tuesday night’s loss.
As for López, he didn’t inspire much confidence as he allowed seven hits and six earned runs on Wednesday. But it should be noted that just three of the balls put in play against him were hit 100 mph or harder.