Atlanta Braves 3 takeaways: a bounce back with changes at the end

Julio Teheran may be peaking at the right time and so are the bats at the top of the Atlanta Braves order.

It was truly an impressive showing of power and command.  The Atlanta Braves, after laying an egg on Thursday night, came back in a big way on Friday by thrashing the Miami Marlins 8-4.

It was a game that really shouldn’t have been even that close, but another late bullpen hiccup happened… and one that will lead to a shuffle in responsibilities.

MEANWHILE IN NEW YORK… you want to see a bullpen meltdown?  Try this – the Mets bottom of the ninth against Nationals closer Sean Doolittle:

• double
• single
• 3-run homer to tie the game
• single
• unsuccessful sacrifice bunt – runner out at 2nd base
• fly out to right
• single
• “single” over the head of right-fielder Eaton to bring in the winning run

Moreover, Doolittle threw 26 pitches and almost certainly won’t be available for their game this evening… and thus the Mets still haven’t waked up from their dream.

But here’s the Takeaways from an excellent night in Miami:

3. “Lock Up When You Leave, Okay?”

Maybe what we’re learning here is that ending ball games is hard.  You just saw Doolittle’s Docket of Despair above; the Braves have been working through such things with their new bullpen mates.

Last night, it was Chris Martin‘s turn to take a big lead and make it smaller.

A strikeout started his frame, but then a walk was followed by a sharp single.  Another hit up the middle scored a second run as the Marlins were 1st-to-3rding him to death.

Martin could have had a better fate.  The next batter whacked a ball up the middle that he got half a glove on.  That was enough to get the runner home from third even though an out was recorded at first.

Had Martin’s reaction actually been a bit worse, there was actually a chance that the Braves might have turned a double play behind him that would have ended the inning without seeing the Marlins score their third run of the game.

Alas, this prolonged the inning and once Martin departed, Shane Greene allowed a single that plated run #4 – with all 3 from the 8th being charged to Martin.

So with this… Atlanta will be using Mark Melancon in the 9th inning to close games for at least a while.

This way Friday played out still almost suggests that (despite the words above) Melancon may have been the 9th inning guy regardless, but it’s not that big a deal for right now.  The important part is to get things settled before the schedule ramps up again next week.

So Melancon last night?  The Marlins started with a single, but then went strikeout, strikeout, groundout.

Game over.  Braves win.