Tyler Flowers heating up as Atlanta Braves extend home winning streak

3. Tyler Flowers offense is heating up

Atlanta Braves catcher, Tyler Flowers, has been a punching bag for most of the season. He hasn’t had the most luck at the plate or behind it for that matter.

However, he’s quietly been putting together some offensive output the past couple of weeks.

In his last 15 games played, Flowers is carrying a respectable slash line of .302/.412/.465 for Atlanta. He’s notched 13 hits including 1 homer and 9 RBI with 9 runs scored in that span as well.

He continued that nice work at the dish on Tuesday night. Flowers was responsible for 3 of the 7 runs scored by the Braves. Those runs coming courtesy of a bases-loaded double in the bottom of the 8th inning with no outs.

This is definitely a performance we would like to see Tyler continue through the month of September and into the playoffs.

I know 2018 and most of 2019 has been rough for Flowers, his first two years in Atlanta were great from an offensive standpoint.

He finished 2016 with a .270 batting average and batted .281 in 2017 which were two of the best seasons he has ever experienced offensively in Major League Baseball. So, we know Tyler is capable of much more that he’s shown us last year and this year.

I’m hoping that this is a sign of things to come from the Braves backstop.

2. Folty and Bullpen Hold Toronto at Bay

The Atlanta Braves have been pleased to have Mike Foltynewicz back in the rotation since he was sent down to Triple-A to work on his slider.

Mike looked good again for Atlanta has he threw five scoreless innings on Tuesday. He was able to get a lot of groundball outs throughout those five innings.

That’s not something we are used to seeing from Folty but it was nice to see he could get outs without depending on strikeouts. Seeing that tells me that he’s not as concerned about being “perfect” anymore.

His slider looked really good and his fastball had some life to it. However, Mike worked a lot of deep counts as he couldn’t get hitters to chase the high fastball. Folty exited the game after throwing 76 pitches due to him feeling a little overheated. Seems like those first two innings with high pitch counts got to him a little bit.

Mike had decent success on the mound Tuesday finishing with a decent line of work: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K. 

Had he not struggled with feeling dizzy and overheated, I think Mike would have gone at least 7 innings for the Braves. Hopefully, this is something he can build off of and take Atlanta deep in the post-season.

Bullpen Success Continues

The bullpen continued its great work after Folty was pulled from the game. Bryse Wilson was the one guy that struggled out of the bullpen on Tuesday.

He allowed 2 earned runs on 4 hits across 1.1 innings pitched. His line indicates that he pitched much worse than he actually did. 19 of Wilson’s 22 pitches were for strikes.

Unfortunately, the pitches hit were all for extra bases. He allowed 3 doubles and a solo homer.

Wilson was optioned back down to Gwinnett after Tuesday’s game as well. With the Stripers being in the Minor Leauge playoffs, I understand the move.

Fortunately for the Braves, they only needed to use two more arms out of the bullpen to finish the game.

Most impressively, they were scoreless outings as well. Sean Newcomb went 1.2 innings allowing no hits and striking out two batters while Jerry Blevins went 1 inning allowing no hits and striking out one batter.

It was nice to see the success of the bullpen continue to extend to relievers that weren’t new additions at the trade deadline.

Oh, and in case you were wondering the Atlanta Braves bullpen has a 2.16 ERA in their last 15 games which is the best in the National League and a WHIP of 0.94 which is best in all of baseball.

https://twitter.com/FOXSportsBraves/status/1169027579803779073?s=20

Alex Anthopoulos did an amazing job getting 3 veteran relievers that don’t walk a lot of hitters. It has greatly improved the team’s chances of winning games.

Not only has the bullpen been great but the Braves starting rotation has earned a 2.85 ERA the last couple of weeks and that is also the best in all of MLB.

Things are looking extremely bright for the Atlanta Braves headed into the final weeks of the 2019 season. I am very excited to see what happens for this team come October.

1. A Big Series with the Nationals is Next

For the Atlanta Braves, the next two weeks are going to be absolutely critical to securing their hopes at a division title.

They play the Nationals for 7 games and the Phillies for 6. As hot as the Braves and Nationals have been, those 7 games are going to be as intense as you could imagine.

Both teams know exactly what is on the line and both teams know they belong in the post-season. The Nationals are 59-28 since May 24th (which is the best in MLB). However, the Braves aren’t far behind that at 56-31. So, it’s not like the Nationals are light-years ahead of Atlanta.

Atlanta hoped the Nationals would come into town down 7.5 games but the Mets bullpen allowed the Nats to score 7 unanswered runs on Tuesday night to maintain their 6.5 game deficit to the Braves.

You have to think if the Braves are somehow able to sweep the Nationals, the NL East is all but theirs. Do I think we will sweep them in a 4-game series? I don’t believe so but it’s possible with how well Atlanta is playing right now.

In my opinion, we will at least split the upcoming series with Washington. We’ve got to do everything we can to maintain that division lead.

We certainly cannot afford to give them any reason to think they have a shot at the division.

Wednesday is an off day for the Braves as they await the start to their 4-game set with Washington. Couldn’t ask for an off day at a better time.