Atlanta Braves: Julio Teheran exits early, Ozzie Albies makes history in loss

3. Bullpen Performance and Acuna’s Early Exit

With Teheran’s early exit, the Atlanta Braves bullpen was tasked with covering 7.2 innings. For the most part, they did a good job covering innings.

Grant Dayton, Darren O’Day, Chad Sobotka, and Chris Martin had very good outings. The four of them combined to only allow 1 hit in 4 innings pitched.

However, Jerry Blevins and struggling Anthony Swarzak had much less luck out of the pen.

Blevins, who has been a great lefty for Atlanta, allowed 1 run on 2 hits in two-thirds of an inning while Swarzak allowed 2 earned runs on 3 hits in an inning of work. I give Blevins a pass due to how good he’s been for Atlanta most of the year.

However, since Swarzak returned from his shoulder injury, he’s been not nearly as good for the Braves. His first 21 appearances with Atlanta resulted in a 0.42 ERA while his 21 most recent appearances have resulted in an ERA of 9.

Definitely not what he or the Braves expected to happen. This has almost certainly squandered any chances that Anthony had of making the postseason roster.

But you never know, there is a chance he could make the roster. I don’t make those decisions but if I had to guess Alex Anthopolous and Brian Snitker aren’t going to want to take any chances with those roster spots.

This year is about getting passed the NLDS and the only way you do that is by taking your best.