It’s not a mystery: the Atlanta Braves believe in themselves until the last out of the game.
It almost happened again last night: even after the Phillies made their desperation trade for bullpen help, the Atlanta Braves have proven that they don’t really who is standing on the mound in the late innings.
Sometimes it happens early — like on Friday evening when the Braves knocked Aaron Nola out of the game quicker than any point in his career. They then proceeded to savage a tired Philly bullpen that had just covered a double-header (albeit a pair of 7-inning games) the day before.
On Saturday, the Phillies had the chance to recover a bit as starter Zack Wheeler managed to get through seven innings while giving up only 2 runs.
But then the Braves hitters saw a couple of warm bodies emerge from the opposition bullpen and suddenly it was ‘game on’, which included a rude ‘welcome to Atlanta’ first pitch from new Philly Brandon Workman.
How good has this team been in the late-going? The numbers are a bit cryptic, but still there (as of Sunday morning):
- Team OPS in inning 8: .617 (terrible)
- Team OPS in inning 9: 1.028 (incredible)
- Team OPS after inning 9 (just one game): 1.167
To illustrate further, we’ve gotta dig deeper. So here’s the breakdown of all games thus far in which Atlanta has been trailing at any point.
The Record Shows…
GAME 1 vs. METS / ROAD game
- Mets scored in 7th to lead 1-0.
- Stranded runners in scoring position in both 7th and 8th innings.
- Lost 1-0.
GAME 2 vs. METS / ROAD game
- Behind 2-1 entering 9th.
- Scored once to force extra innings.
- Scored 3 in 10th.
- Won 5-3. Last AB victory.
GAME 4 vs. RAYS / ROAD game
- Led 1-0 early.
- Gave up 10 runs between 3rd-5th innings.
- Scored 4 in 6th, but never threatened Rays.
- Lost 14-5.
GAME 5 vs. RAYS / ROAD game
- Scored in 3rd to lead 1-0.
- Immediately gave up 5 runs.
- Braves scored once in 7th.
- Went out meekly 1-2-3 in both 8th and 9th innings.
- Lost 5-2.
Let’s take a slight break while the team flies home for the next series…