Atlanta Braves bats go quiet again in loss
The Atlanta Braves by this point are probably beyond ready to not see the Toronto Blue Jays for a while.
The Blue Jays are single handedly giving us a smacking on the 2021 season so far as after Wednesday’s 4-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves. They lead the season series 5-0.
Hopefully the Atlanta Braves can at least salvage one win on the season and find a way Thursday afternoon to get a victory.
Wednesday night was projected to be a good old fashioned pitching duel and it ultimately lived up to the hype as both starting pitchers Max Fried and Hyun Jin Ryu were both as good as expected.
The former player in that last sentence is where we are going to start this recap with though.
For the second straight start, since coming back from an injury, Max Fried looked like the Fried we both have become used too and expect to have once every 5 days.
It goes without saying, having Fried back to something even remotely close to the version we had in 2020 will calm a lot of Atlanta Braves fans nerves and keep this team in the race all season long.
There is really no way around it, Wednesday was not a good day for the Atlanta Braves and the teams fans as news of Mike Soroka having more Achilles discomfort, therefore requiring “exploratory” surgery, will be out even longer and its fair to wonder if we see the young stud at all this season. The Atlanta Braves certainly can’t rely on anything from him this year.
The bottom line is that puts even more weight on the shoulders of both Fried, and Morton.
The good news is that once again Fried has looked pretty sharp since his IL stint ended last week. The six inning, two hit ball he pitched against the high powered Blue Jays lineup Wednesday is the latest example that hopefully the Atlanta Braves have their current Ace back.
As the teaser said above, chicks dig the long ball…..but you gotta find other ways to score runs.
Everybody remembers the old Maddux and Glavine commercial from the 90’s, and the message is more true now than ever before.
I know it’s the way the game is played now, and I also know I have harped on this before, but the Atlanta Braves have to find ways to score runs and not rely on the long ball so much.
That is exactly what they did on Saturday night in the big comeback win against the Phillies. You have to do the little things like move the runner over. Hit the sacrifice fly. Choke up and just try to put the ball in play sometimes.
Yes, it is fun and exciting to look at the stats and see that the Atlanta Braves are leading all of baseball in home runs this year, but as the other old saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat.
The only run on Wednesday’s contest was via a no doubter from Contreras. I will give the Atlanta Braves a small pass on this particular game as once again they were going against Ryu, who is one of the better pitchers in the game, but this is becoming a problem more and more with each passing game.
If the Atlanta Braves want to come back and win the NL East, they will certainly need to start making more contact and driving the ball into the gaps and start doing the little things more. Too many stranded runners have been left on base for this team to be successful.
With all the power on this team, it’s not like they still will not be hitting the long ball anyways.
The Atlanta Braves bullpen once again delivered a unimpressive outing.
The Atlanta Braves bullpen was projected to be the one area that the team regressed on over the Winter and so far that has unfortunately been correct.
The simple truth is yes, injuries have played a big part and frankly, the starting pitchers have not helped them a ton either.
The reality though is they have to improve and quickly. With Chris Martin returning, and hopefully Shane Greene will be up sooner rather than later, help does seem to be on the way, but it needs to be quick.
I think it is fair to say that everyone had a little uneasy feeling once the Atlanta Braves removed Fried from the game and Luke Jackson came in. Luke has been better than last year but to be frank, a playoff team has a better option there in a close game in the late innings.
If we are being truthful though, a couple players in the bullpen should probably pick out some of their favorite restaurants in the Gwinnett are because they might soon be going back. The following players should be weary.
- Biddle
- Webb
- Newcomb
That list does not include Tomlin or Jackson who also could be upgraded.
The bottom line is the Braves have to have a better and deeper bullpen.
This Ynoa guy. dark. Next
That does it for Wednesday’s recap. The same two teams finish the series off on Thursday afternoon. Hopefully the Atlanta Braves can salvage something against the Jays.