3 Takeaways: Atlanta Braves fall to Phils, magic number is 2

In a day that began with some promise as division rival Washington suffered a loss – trimming the Atlanta Braves NL East-clinching magic number to 2 – the Braves found life harder at SunTrust Park, dropping the second game of the series to the Philadelphia Phillies in a 4-1 defeat.

It is actually the third consecutive defeat for the Atlanta Braves at the hands of the Phillies, who have given them more trouble head-to-head than anyone else in the National League East this season.

Atlanta will be glad to see the Phillies move on after tomorrow’s series finale, in all likelihood the final matchup between the two clubs until 2020.

On Wednesday night, the story was that of average starting pitching, and very little offense to mention.

Julio Teheran took the hill for the Atlanta Braves, and while his final stat line certainly isn’t “bad”, the right-hander wasn’t the impressive version of himself we have seen several times in 2019.

The Atlanta bats were tamed for the third consecutive game, managing just to squeak out one run and five hits off of Philadelphia’s Zach Eflin.

The brightest spot of the night of an otherwise forgettable contest may have been the promising work of the Atlanta bullpen, with four members of the Braves’ relief corps combining for 4 scoreless frames, and a 6:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Thinking big picture: there is no reason for this defeat to put a damper on the current mood surrounding the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves.

The second-place Washington Nationals dropped their Wednesday game against the St. Louis Cardinals, which means that, even on a day where they experienced a loss, Atlanta is creeping ever closer to that much-anticipated division clincher.

Here’s three takeaways from Wednesday night’s defeat.

1. Julio  Teheran’s case for an NLDS start was…underwhelming

It’s not to say that these current games don’t matter for the Atlanta Braves, but it is remarkably clear where the team’s true focus is over the next couple of weeks.

The Braves are a matter of days away from solidifying their second consecutive NL East division crown, thought they have their eyes set on much higher aspirations.

Welcome to what has essentially become Spring Training, September style: a time of position battles and tough decisions.

The Atlanta Braves have afforded themselves the luxury of building a big enough lead in the division that they can now carefully examine some of the “fringe” players to determine which are worthy of key roles in a postseason series.

One of those cases is starting pitcher Julio Teheran.

Certainly, Julio is in comfortable position to be on the impending NLDS roster for Atlanta, but whether or not he would get a start in a best-of-five series remains to be determined…and his case wasn’t necessarily helped on Wednesday night.

The final line for Julio looked like this: 5 IP, 3 ER, 6 K, 2 BB.

On the surface, the numbers aren’t bad,  but the two home runs allowed (and 90 pitches to record just five official innings) were somewhat of a disturbance for a guy making his bid to earn an NLDS start.

It seems a fairly solid guess that Mike Soroka and Dallas Keuchel would appear to be in line to get two of Atlanta’s starts in its first postseason series.

After that? It’s anyone’s guess between Max Fried, Mike Foltynewicz, and Julio.

Each of those three have seen stretches of success and inconsistencies, and while Julio’s overall numbers for 2019 have been in the “better-than-expected” category, the glaring difference between his ERA and his peripheral stats give cause for some warning.

Julio will get at least one more regular-season start – if not two – to prove that he’s the man to get a start in the division series. Time will tell.

2. The Atlanta Braves offense looks like one that needs a break

Chalk it up to a number of factors: the recent injuries, the dog days of September, a schedule against some tough pitching, or even a bit of existing complacency with a big division lead.

None of those are meant to be excuses, but the simple fact is the Atlanta Braves offense that took the field Wednesday night and slumped their way to just 1 run certainly looks like a lineup that could use a reset button.

In fact, ever since their ten-run barrage against Washington last Saturday, the Braves have cooled off significantly over their last three games, as they’ve put together just five runs over their last 27 innings at the plate.

Eight strikeouts and twelve men left on base on Wednesday certainly aren’t numbers you’d hope to see from an offense prepping itself for a division series looming ahead in just a couple of weeks.

So maybe, just maybe, what the Braves truly need is to give several of its starters some real rest.

There’s no denying just how powerful the Atlanta lineup can be when it is clicking on all cylinders: the three-headed monster of Ronald Acuna, Jr.-Freddie Freeman-Josh Donaldson is other-worldly fearsome for opposing pitchers, while Ozzie Albies and Nick Markakis give the lineup valuable depth.

But clicking on all cylinders, they are not – at least not at the moment.

Some rest and recovery can certainly help with that, and get the Braves primed to have their stars shining brightest when it matters most: in October.

Clinching the division can’t happen soon enough for Atlanta, as their lineup stars could definitely benefit from the reset.