3 Tomahawk Takeaways as Atlanta Braves pound the ball early and often in offensive show vs. Pirates

In an important series prior to seeing the Phillies, the Atlanta Braves’ offense is getting into gear against Pennsylvania’s other club.

There were a couple of hiccups last week when the Atlanta Braves faced Pittsburgh near the confluence, but the rematch is proving to demonstrate that this offense is getting ready for the big weekend set against Philadelphia.

Still, the Braves have to play the games in the order that the calendar sets forth, so they’ll have one more against the Pirates on Wednesday afternoon.

Hopefully they won’t be looking past that one.

But back to Tuesday evening:  Atlanta hit 5 homers against Pirates’ starter Chris Archer, continuing a trend of beating up on even the best pitching available to their opponents.

4 of these home runs came in lightning-quick fashion:  a span of just 5 batters in the second inning.  All of these were solo shots, though, and that meant Pittsburgh was still in the game.

Happily, a second homer from Brian McCann broke a 4-4 tie and gave the Braves some cushion.

Ultimately, it took a while longer than hoped – thanks to a Summer squall that opened up over the park as the 9th inning was about to get underway – but the Braves carried their bats away with a 7-5 victory.

All of that leads us to 3 Tomahawk Takeaways from Tuesday’s contest.

3. Still not nearly the ‘Folty’ we need

Mike Foltynewicz got through 5 full innings on Tuesday night, but it was neither easy nor economical.

5 innings, 5 hits, 4 walks, and 4 earned runs against 5 strikeouts marked his line and raised his ERA for the year to a shockingly high 6.02.

What’s more, the Pirates worked him for 96 pitches, which forced Brian Snitker to ask his bullpen for 4 innings of effort.  This could leave them short-handed by the weekend since 4 relievers were used.

Don’t miss, too, that Sean Newcomb – while unavailable for this game regardless – will be held out so that he can start Saturday’s contest.

So while A.J. Minter was recalled for Tuesday (and was immediately used in this game), you can probably look for another reliever to be brought up to insure that the Braves’ bullpen can get through the next few days.

All that aside, this marks yet another outing in which Foltynewicz gave up 4+ runs:

• 9 total season starts
  • 4 times:  3 earned runs or fewer
  • 5 times:  4 earned runs or more
  • 4 times:  5 innings or fewer
  • 5 times:  exactly 6 official innings

That’s the kind of thing we’d been seeing out of Julio Teheran starts – especially last year.  It’s not at all what we were hoping to see from Mike Foltynewicz.