Kevin Gausman was good enough, Austin Riley continued to mash and the bullpen went to overtime on Thursday as the Atlanta Braves won again.
The Atlanta Braves concluded a 4 game set with the San Francisco Giants Thursday afternoon, winning 5-4 in 13 innings. With that, the Braves took 3 out of 4 and head now to St. Louis to meet the Cardinals for a holiday weekend series. Let’s look at the 3 biggest takeaways from Thursday’s win.
1. The Bullpen is rounding into form
The Braves bullpen was the story to me for Thursday’s game. Starter Kevin Gausman gave the team 6 innings of 3 run ball, but the bullpen locked it down after that with only Sean Newcomb allowing a run in the 7th on a Tyler Austin solo shot.
After that, the bullpen allowed nothing in terms of runs and only allowed 3 hits in the 7 innings it pitched while avoiding trouble with 4 walks – a couple of them being of the ‘leadoff’ variety.
Ever since the terrible series against the Dodgers, it seems the bullpen has found its stride and the results seem to prove it.
For the month of May, the only relief pitcher who has allowed more than 5 ER is Josh Tomlin and 4 of the 9 he allowed came in mop up duty versus the Brewers last Saturday night.
In the early part of the season, no doubt the bullpen was the severe weak link. The the truth is, it probably still is; but for today and the last few games, it has proven to be reliable and has kept our offense in games with the chance to win.
Hopefully that trend continues and the bullpen can get even stronger throughout the summer.