3 takeaways as Atlanta Braves lose in extras to Cincinnati Reds
The Atlanta Braves dropped the series finale against the Cincinnati Reds, 6-4 in 10 innings Sunday afternoon and split the four-game series.
This isn’t exactly how everyone drew up Shane Greene’s Atlanta Braves debut.
After blowing the save in Saturday’s game, Greene gave up the deciding three-run home run to Tucker Barnhart in the top of the 10th inning Sunday.
That’s four earned runs in two innings for a guy who had a 1.18 ERA all season for the Tigers.
The good news, though, was both the Nationals and Phillies lost so the Braves maintained their seven-game lead in the National League East.
Ronald Acuna Jr. continues to simply be amazing, as he hit a two-strike, two-run home run to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, but then we all know what happened a half-inning later.
Let’s just relax on Shane
Without a doubt, Greene’s start in Atlanta is concerning, but let’s take a deep breath and consider two things:
1. The blown save on Saturday was unlucky as the Reds “Babip-ed” the Braves to death in the ninth inning.
2. Regression was going to come for Greene, who just last year had an ERA above five, it just didn’t seem like the regression was going to come so quickly.
Bottom line: Greene will be fine. He won’t be as good as he was with Detroit, but he will be just fine.
Us fans just have PTSD when it comes to bullpen blowups, so patience is understandably thin.
Get right, Johan
Whenever Dansby Swanson comes off the IL, which appears to be another week or so away, it would be in Johan Camargo’s best interest to go back to Triple-A and figure out what the heck is going on.
For as good as Camargo was last season when he hit 19 home runs and had an OPS of .806, he has been just as bad this season with an OPS of .606.
light. Related Story. Where is the 2018 Camargo?
Since July 24th, when he took over for Swanson, Camargo is 5-for-36, with just three walks.
The Atlanta Braves need Camargo’s versatility in the playoffs, so he needs to correct these issues.
Opportunities wasted
In reality, Greene wouldn’t have even been on the field today if the offense would have come through just once with runners in scoring position.
Today the Braves were 0-for-11, including having the winning run on third with one out in the bottom ninth, but Adam Duvall struck out and Brian McCann grounded out to second. For the series, the Braves went 6-for-40 with runners in scoring position.
All in all, though, nothing lost in the split, with both the Phillies and Nationals losing their respective series.
Team building. dark. Next
Hopefully the offense can get back on track on this week’s seven-game road trip at Minnesota and Miami.