Tuesday night was a rare frustrating game for the Atlanta Braves. Ronald Acuña Jr. left early with another hamstring injury, they got walked off by a rookie making his MLB debut on a home run that wouldn't have gone out in any but a couple of ballparks, and they wasted a two-homer game from Matt Olson. However, lost in all of the noise from the game was an apparent misstep by manager Walt Weiss.
Now, Weiss has been terrific for the vast majority of the season with his handling of the clubhouse, media, and his in-game decisions. Unlike Brian Snitker, who seemed to go with a very instinctual approach much of the time (which did work more often than it didn't), Weiss seems like a more modern manager who embraces analytics as a tool that would be foolish to ignore in today's game. No manager is perfect, but Weiss has been a breath of fresh air in a lot of ways as a guy who grew up in old school ways, but who understands the modern game as well.
However, one decision from Tuesday's game from Weiss seemed to miss the mark. Grant Holmes certainly put the Braves in a bad spot when he failed to escape the fourth inning, but that Weiss turned to Carlos Carrasco out of the bullpen in a one-run game in the sixth inning remains extremely puzzling.
Turning to Carlos Carrasco in a close game against White Sox may have cost the Braves
Now, everyone knows that the Braves can't use their best relievers every night. They are going to have to go with guys like Carrasco, Reynaldo Lopez, or Tyler Kinley sometimes when better arms aren't available and just have to hope for the best. It can feel terrible at times, but burning out Atlanta's high-leverage arms would be a far worse outcome.
However, that wasn't the situation on Tuesday. The Braves were coming off a day off, so the bullpen was as fresh as they could be at this point of the season. Didier Fuentes pitched on Sunday against the Pirates, but he only threw 20 pitches in that appearance, and it was the only time he had thrown across a three-day span. Why not give him a chance in a close game instead of going with the 39-year-old junkballer with a sea of lefty hitters coming up?
Unfortunately, that decision proved to be costly. Carrasco did give up a run, and he was extremely fortunate that it wasn't worse, but the White Sox made a pair of baserunning blunders at home plate to help Atlanta's cause. Only THEN did the Braves turn to some of their better relievers, but the game went to extras anyway, and their efforts were in vain.
Not only did the Braves lose the game, but Dylan Dodd threw 31 pitches, and Raisel Iglesias threw 24 as well. The odds that they are going to be available on Wednesday are near zero. Robert Suarez had a much smaller workload, but he still had to warm up and is a power arm. He will probably be the de facto closer if Wednesday's match-up is close late in the game, but that will impact his availability later in the week if it comes to pass.
There is certainly information that we don't have access to. Hypothetically, Weiss may have known that Dylan Lee wasn't feeling particularly well or that Fuentes needed another day to be fresh for whatever reason. There are 100 reasons why Weiss could have turned to Carrasco in that spot. However, on a night where Atlanta had some bad luck already, that feels like an unforced error.
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