Atlanta Braves Bullpen Get Snake Bitten Late In Game 3, Lose 9-8
By Jeff Schafer
The Arizona Diamonbacks, yes the freakin’ Diamondbacks that were the worst team in the league last year and came into this series with a 23-26 record, just won the series against our Atlanta Braves two games to one.
The Braves should have swept the Diamondbacks, but the bullpen let them down on back-to-back nights. Tuesday, they gave up three runs and the lead. Wednesday, they gave up four runs and the lead. Both games the lead evaporated and left for good in the 7th inning.
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It was painful from my chair and I’m sure just as awful from yours, but Braves manager
Fredi Gonzalezhad to sit and watch this unfold…as well as the offense – which is rumored to be very upset with the bullpen and expressing their emotions on their faces.
“They scored a run in every inning after our starter came out except for the bottom of the 9th inning because they didn’t hit in the bottom of the 9th,” Gonzalez told reporters after the game.
The offense has definitely been there this series as they scored 22 runs in the three games (8 in game one, 6 in game two, 8 in game three).
On Wednesday Nick Markakis and Cameron Maybin each had three hits while Freddie Freeman and Todd Cunningham had two hits…both hits from Freeman’s bat were homers.
“This is baseball, the game we love so much,” Gonzalez said. “A week from now we’re going to be pitching lights out and our offense aren’t going to be scoring. We’ve got to ride this wave of our bullpen struggling a little bit and we’ll come out on the other side.”
Well, lets not jinx the offense Fredi!
During the 10 game road trip, the bullpen had a 9.28 ERA with 22 earned runs given up in 21.1 innings….terrible, unacceptable, ludicrous!!
“10 game road trip, I think some areas of our bullpen got exposed a little bit,” Gonzalez wrapped up his press conference with. “We need to fix it. We need to figure out a way, I need to find a better combination to get the ball to Jason Grilli‘s hands somehow. It’s tough losing games like that.”
Braves go 4-6 in the west coast swing…maybe getting back to the east coast timing will be a good thing for the bullpen.
A much needed off-day for the Braves on Thursday and then a seven day homestead at Turner Field starting with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
One quick stat…Pirates have won 11 times in their past 13 games. Their rotation is 12-1 with a 2.31 ERA. Their offense has the 2nd-most runs (75) in majors.
Let the rant begin in the comments…