The Atlanta Braves featured one of the best bullpens in baseball during the regular season. It felt like that would be one of the biggest strengths of the team in the playoffs as well. Unfortunately, that's been largely untrue thus far. Outside of Raisel Iglesias, Dider Fuentes and Dylan Lee have not been very good in their early postseason opportunities. That has fans very concerned after a gut-punch loss in Game Two of the NL Wild Card series.
Despite an amazing start by Tyler Mahle, the bullpen fell apart and allowed the Phillies to stave off elimination and force a decisive third game. Lee gave up two solo homers to Schwarber and Harper in the seventh and was eventually replaced by Iglesias. Iggy did his job to get the final out of the inning. He pitched well in the seventh and eighth innings, but he was replaced by Fuentes to record the third out of the eighth.
Walt Weiss allowed Fuentes to face the top of Philly's order in the top of the ninth, and he recorded the first two outs with ease. Unfortunately, Alec Bohm hit a solo homer in a 1-1 count to give the Phillies a late lead. It was a wall-scraper home run, but it felt like a no-doubter with how quickly it took the air out of Truist Park.
That's all Atlanta's division rivals needed to force a final game on Thursday. The decision to let Fuentes face the top of the order in the ninth certainly brought on questions about Robert Suarez's status. Suarez was acquired last offseason for moments just like that in the postseason. He only returned to the mound a couple of weeks ago and hasn't gotten a lot of reps. However, he is still one of the best arms in the bullpen. Why wasn't he utilized in one of the biggest moments of the season?
Robert Suarez's glaring absence in the Braves' devastating loss raises some valid questions
The first thought is that Weiss didn't want him to face Schwarber and Harper since they're lefties. However, that logic would only make sense if Suarez's stats backed up him having struggles against left-handed bats.
A deeper look into it refutes that very quickly. Suarez actually has better splits against left-handed hitters than he does against right-handed ones. Lefty opponents are batting .138 against Atlanta's setup man in 2026, compared to right-handers who are batting .263 against him this season. Further, Philly only has a .077 average against him in 4 games this season. Combine that with a career .177 batting average against lefties, and it really leaves fans scratching their heads on why he wasn't available.
Suarez has a 0-1 record, 3.68 ERA, five saves, one walk, and eight strikeouts over 7.1 innings. And it's not like Schwarber, Harper, or Bohm have faced him much or had success in the few times they did. Schwarber is 0-for-2 with two strikeouts; Harper is 1-for-3 with one strikeout; and Bohm is 1-for-3 against Suarez. There's no reason he shouldn't have gotten a chance in a tie game with a chance to eliminate the Phillies. That's the whole reason he was signed in the offseason.
It leads one to believe that Suarez may not be fully healthy. Why else would Weiss use Fuentes two nights in a row, otherwise? They may want to be cautious with him since he is coming back from an arm injury, but why would they put him on the roster just to sit in the bullpen and do nothing?
Some questions definitely need to be answered. The fans deserve some transparency in this situation. Because it makes zero sense for the top bullpen acquisition to not be used in the biggest moments of the postseason.
Add us as a preferred source on Google