Takeaways from Saturday’s Atlanta Braves bullpen implosion and loss

The Atlanta Braves were two outs away from winning a blowout behind a gem from Mike Soroka…completely opposite ending happened

Yes, the Atlanta Braves were supposed to win this. The first 8-1/2 innings was on the path of a fun night, everything after was a nightmare. Back at the deadline, Alex Anthopoulos made moves to acquire three arms that were suppose to improve the bullpen and not make the final innings high-stress moments. So far, the results hasn’t been the most glorious.

Before we get to that, we got to at least mention the good notes about the game. It was an absolute pitcher’s duel between Mike Soroka and Sandy Alcantara. The two matched each other up for six strikeouts with the offenses only scattering a few hits and walks here and there.

Soroka went seven innings without allowing a run while the Marlins kept Alcantara in for the eighth and the Braves finally broke through.

Charlie Culberson started it off with a 1-out single before moving to second on a wild pitch. Following an intentional walk to Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies lined one off of Alcantara’s leg for an RBI double. With runners at second and third, Freddie Freeman dropped a single to center to give the Braves a 3-0 lead.

The bullpen started cracking (but not shattering yet) in the bottom of the inning when Anthony Swarzak gave up a home run to Curtis Granderson and then Luke Jackson allowing a RBI single to Brian Anderson. Still, the Braves retained the lead and then added what was suppose to be insurance runs when Johan Camargo launched a three-run homer. Acuna Jr. even inched closer to history by getting 2 stolen bases in the game.

3. Do The Braves Have A Closer Curse?

Coming into the 9th inning, even with a good gap for the lead it was still a save situation for Brian Snitker. At this point, the Braves should just have the closer position filled with the title “Closer.” Jeff Francoeur said it best when he said the Braves should say, “We don’t have a closer.”

When the Braves acquired the three new arms, there was the theme that each of them has closing experience but that Shane Greene was expected to be the main guy. So far his audition has been just about worse case scenario, blowing his two opportunities. His third and fourth outing in a Braves uniform weren’t save situations but he had better success.

Coming into Saturday’s game, manager Brian Snitker announced that Mark Melancon would be the next person to fill in the closer spot after the few rough outings for Greene.

Prior to this game, Melancon had in four scoreless outings for Atlanta including three ninth inning appearances. That got put to the test immediately with Melancon coming in the 9th with a 6-2 lead.

It started out with promise with a strikeout to Harold Ramirez. However, Melancon then allowed FOUR straight singles. So first night out as a Braves closer failed, prompting Snitker to go back to Shane Greene – who still hasn’t quite clicked.

Greene gave up a two strike RBI single to Isan Diaz and then a RBI double to Starlin Castro that almost ended the game there. The double only tied the game as Diaz was thrown out at home. Eventually Greene got through the inning but all momentum had went to the Marlins.

The Braves offense went dead in the 10th and Sean Newcomb entered to pitched the bottom of the inning and it was one of those moments where you just throw your hands in the air but you’re not really shocked/surprised.

Newcomb gave up a single on the first pitch to Ramirez and then allowed him to reach third off a pick off attempt that saw the ball fired past Freeman. A sac fly from Martin Prado walked the Marlins off. Braves lose 6-7.

The Braves have had bullpen problems but do they have a curse in the ninth?

Arodys Vizcaino, A.J. Minter, Luke Jackson, Shane Greene, Mark Melancon…plus the relievers that were given a shot to do so. Jackson has been the only one that could get a pass IF you compared him to the others.

Is this a curse for not getting Craig Kimbrel? Probably not. Should they have signed Kimbrel or make a move earlier in the offseason for someone like Edwin Diaz? Maybe.

2. Is The Magic Gone?

Another pitcher that’s been struggling as of late is Anthony Swarzak. Swarzak was absolutely killing it when the Braves acquired him, pitching to a 0.56 ERA with only one earned run in 16 innings of relief.

Then he landed on the IL for a right shoulder inflammation that took him out for two weeks. When he first came back, the magic was still there, making four scoreless appearances before getting rocked in the series against the Kansas City Royals where he gave up three runs including a homer for the loss. Swarzak then gave up runs in back-to-back games against the Nationals. He’s also has yet to have a clean outing since July 15th, since then he’s at least walked a batter if not more.

On Saturday, after getting a line-out from Bryan Holaday, Swarzak gave up a solo home run to Curtis Granderson and then a single to Jon Berti before being replaced by Luke Jackson.

If the Braves bullpen is to somewhat survive, they’ll desperately need Swarzak to get back on track and be the Swarzak he was prior to the injury.

1. On Track For Chasing History

After hitting two home runs on Friday, Ronald Acuna Jr. did doubles on steals, stealing second and then third in the ninth inning. This brings his chase for the 30-30 club (and really 40-40 club) at 32 total home runs and 28 total steals.

Plus, with the speed that he’s going, he’s on track to get to 40-40 with 43 games left in the regular season. In the last 10 days (this month so far), he’s hits seven homers and three bases stolen.

If he does achieve the big one, the 40-40 season, he’ll be just the fifth person in history to do so as well as the youngest at 21 after Jose Canseco (age 23), Barry Bonds (31), Alex Rodriguez (22) and Alfonso Soriano (30).

The Braves will look to even the series on Sunday behind Mike Foltynewicz at 1:10 ET.