The Atlanta Braves survived an extra innings battle with the Minnesota Twins last night to improve to 72-60 on the season. The Braves are now 8-2 over their last ten games, and a lot of credit goes out to Atlanta's pitching staff.
In particular, the Braves' bullpen has been doing some heavy lifting over the last few weeks. However, yesterday's game provided more evidence that manager Brian Snitker isn't always pushing the right buttons.
Snitker's bullpen management hasn't been ideal
Last Sunday, Snitker made the choice to go to Luke Jackson in the seventh inning of a tie ballgame. That decision ultimately cost the Braves the lead, and eventually the game. Last night the bullpen was asked to cover more innings as starter Spencer Schwellenbach went just 4.2 innings.
Per usual, Dylan Lee stepped up and got a big strikeout to escape the jam in the bottom of the fifth. However, that would end up being the only batter Lee would face. One of their best relievers facing just one batter with four innings remaining was puzzling to say the least.
However, Lee did pitch on Monday as well so we can see Snitker's reasoning with that choice. Next out was 41 year-old Jesse Chavez. The veteran righty pitched a scoreless sixth inning of work. But for some reason Chavez came back out for the seventh in a four run game.
This is where the Twins made their move, jumping on Chavez with three consecutive hits to cut the lead in half. Given how much Chavez has struggled in the second half, asking him to go multiple innings (while the Braves are winning) against a good team isn't a good decision. Especially when you're in the seventh inning.
Out came Joe Jimenez to put out the fire. Jimenez gave up a double to allow the Twins to pull within one run, but he then buckled down to preserve the lead and send the game into the eighth.
Joe Jiménez, Back-to-Back White Castle Specials. 🤮🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔 pic.twitter.com/ckGCTNyRVv
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 28, 2024
Jimenez was back out for the bottom of the eighth and quickly got the first two hitters to flyout. He then surrendered a double, and forced Snitker to bring in his closer for the potential four-out save. However, it wasn't meant to be for Raisel Iglesias as Larnach immediately blooped a game tying single in front of Kelenic.
Credit to Iglesias though, as he pitched a terrific ninth inning to send the game into extras. From here you probably know the story, Atlanta's offense came alive with a four spot and then Pierce Johnson held on for dear life as the Braves escaped with a 8-6 victory.
However, the point of this post is to point out how this scenario was entirely avoidable with some better bullpen management from Snitker. We understand the bullpen has been taxed lately, but letting Dylan Lee face more than one batter seemed logical. Trusting Aaron Bummer or Joe Jimenez to begin the seventh inning rather than 41 year-old Jesse Chavez working his second inning seems like an easy call.
These things are always easy to see in hindsight, but the process wasn't comfortable last night. Maybe when rosters expand in September and the bullpen gets that extra arm to eat innings, we'll begin to see some better stuff out of Snitker's bullpen management. However, one thing is clear; Snitker has to start trusting Aaron Bummer, Dylan Lee, and Grant Holmes more. And he has to quit being so trusting with Luke Jackson and Jesse Chavez, if he fails to do so the Braves could drop some important games in some very undesirable ways.