Braves fans were having flashbacks last night as they watched Atlanta squander a 4-0 lead to their rivals. The Phillies completed the 5-4 comeback victory with two giant swings late in the ballgame. This win not only ended the Braves winning streak, but also pushed Atlanta to six games back in the NL East race.
While the offense was mostly quiet outside of a red-hot Matt Olson, this was another very winnable game for the Braves that ended up in bitter defeat. The reason...manager Brian Snitker fell into his old habits.
Snit leaves starter in the game too long...once again
The bullpen management from Brian Snitker has been an adventure over the last few weeks to say the least. After an exhausting series against the Twins (where pretty much every reliever was relied upon) Snitker and the Braves needed a solid start from 40 year-old Charlie Morton.
And the veteran provided just that. Morton was battling command most of the night, but he was able to spin five scoreless innings and send the game into the sixth with the Braves leading 4-0. However, just like Snitker did with Bryce Elder in game three of last year's NLDS, the starter was left out there for one batter too many.
Morton gave up two singles in the first three batters to begin the bottom of the sixth. After Realmuto's single Morton was over 100 pitches on the night. Up next was Brandon Marsh, who Morton had struck out twice thus far. Marsh struggles against lefties, but Snit disregarded those awful numbers and allowed Charlie the chance to pitch out of the jam. Marsh immediately blasted a three-run homer to left to make it a ballgame once again.
Marsh vs. LHPs: .200, 0 HR, .532 OPS in 74 PAs.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) August 30, 2024
Morton was left in to face him in the sixth. 3-run homer. Bummer was inserted two batters later. (Bummer actually has been a little tougher vs. RHB than vs. LHB this season, but neverthless, Marsh stats vs. lefties....)
It was the same mistake he made in CBP during game three of the NLDS last season. Morton was clearly gassed, and you had a solid LHP in Aaron Bummer ready to go. The same Aaron Bummer who hadn't pitched since Sunday.
We know by now that Snit doesn't have much trust in Aaron Bummer, never really giving him the chance to pitch in high-leverage situations. However, Bummer has had a supremely underrated year, pitching to the tune of a 2.66 xERA, 1.89 FIP, and 2.36 xFIP.
All of Bummer's underlying numbers are superb as well. He does an excellent job getting groundballs and generating weak contact. In fact he's allowed just ONE barrel all season, the best mark in baseball. That's what makes it wild to see Luke Jackson deployed in a one-run game yesterday, yet somehow Snitker clearly has no faith in one of the Braves better bullpen arms.
It's the same mistakes over and over again. As we said, we know the bullpen was taxed coming out of the Twins series. But here, we're talking about the one guy who hasn't gotten a ton of work. The one guy who was traded for to get the star left-handed hitters the Phillies deploy out. It's just a shame he didn't even get the opportunity.
Instead it was the same mistake that sunk Braves fans in October of last year. The starter left out on the mound too long, and the gut punch three-run homer everyone saw coming expect the one guy who could've prevented it.