3 Takeaways: Atlanta Braves fall to Phils, magic number is 2

In a day that began with some promise as division rival Washington suffered a loss – trimming the Atlanta Braves NL East-clinching magic number to 2 – the Braves found life harder at SunTrust Park, dropping the second game of the series to the Philadelphia Phillies in a 4-1 defeat.

It is actually the third consecutive defeat for the Atlanta Braves at the hands of the Phillies, who have given them more trouble head-to-head than anyone else in the National League East this season.

Atlanta will be glad to see the Phillies move on after tomorrow’s series finale, in all likelihood the final matchup between the two clubs until 2020.

On Wednesday night, the story was that of average starting pitching, and very little offense to mention.

Julio Teheran took the hill for the Atlanta Braves, and while his final stat line certainly isn’t “bad”, the right-hander wasn’t the impressive version of himself we have seen several times in 2019.

The Atlanta bats were tamed for the third consecutive game, managing just to squeak out one run and five hits off of Philadelphia’s Zach Eflin.

The brightest spot of the night of an otherwise forgettable contest may have been the promising work of the Atlanta bullpen, with four members of the Braves’ relief corps combining for 4 scoreless frames, and a 6:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Thinking big picture: there is no reason for this defeat to put a damper on the current mood surrounding the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves.

The second-place Washington Nationals dropped their Wednesday game against the St. Louis Cardinals, which means that, even on a day where they experienced a loss, Atlanta is creeping ever closer to that much-anticipated division clincher.

Here’s three takeaways from Wednesday night’s defeat.