Tyler Flowers heating up as Atlanta Braves extend home winning streak
By Steven Teal
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.
#Braves have won each of Foltynewicz's past nine starts, and this win was his fourth decision in that span.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) September 4, 2019
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.
#Braves optioned RH Bryse Wilson back to Gwinnett after Tuesday night’s game.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) September 4, 2019
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.