A critical Game 3 for the Atlanta Braves?

Everything has lined up well for the Atlanta Braves… so far.

So far, so good:  the Atlanta Braves have taken advantage of virtually every opportunity afforded them by the Miami Marlins and stand just one win away from moving on to a National League Championship Series matchup against — almost certainly — the Dodgers.

But they aren’t there yet.

At this point, the Braves have done all we could ask:  win.  However, we’ve also now reached that tipping point where the lack of starting pitching depth becomes more problematic going forward.

Kyle Wright gets the start today:  he of the 5.21 ERA.  That said, something clearly clicked into place in September and he reeled off three starts of 6+ innings that suddenly put him on the same plane as Max Fried and Ian Anderson… or at least a point where he can see that plane.

These starts — against the Nats, Mets, and Red Sox — resulted in a combined 19 innings with 5 earned runs, 6 walks, 12 hits, and 14 strikeouts:  a 2.37 ERA over that span with the Mets outing (no runs allowed) being the real gem of the three.

Wright has faced the Marlins twice this season, though and neither went well:  8 earned runs over 7 innings as the Braves lost both contests.

But that was before his enlightenment, right?

That’s the hope we’ll hang our hats on today, though the Atlanta offense really does need to step up a bit more:  the team can’t count on perfection from Wright (nor should they for any pitcher, for that matter).

A Sixto Trio

The Braves have now seen Sixto Sanchez twice, with September 23rd being their most recent contact.  Today will be the third meeting.

In the first meeting, it was all Miami:  they won 8-0 with Sanchez going 6 strong innings of 3-hit shutout ball (6K, 1BB).  15 days later produced a different story:  3 innings, 4 earned runs, 4 walks and 4 hits as the Braves knocked him out early en route to a 9-4 victory.

Sanchez’ last outing came against the Cubs, and he was ‘on’ that day:  5 innings with no runs scored (6K, 2BB, 4 hits).  But the Cubs offense had been anemic and they hadn’t seen Sanchez before.

Still, Atlanta needs this game today.  It’s hard to say that it’s more critical for the Braves since they’re up 2-0, but certainly their pitching road gets harder to navigate for potential games 4 & 5 scenarios.

Starting tomorrow, it could be a combination of Bryse Wilson, Josh Tomlin, and … whoever hadn’t pitched that much from the bullpen.  A Saturday all-or-nothing Game 5 could see the return of Max Fried since he wasn’t extended on Tuesday, but that would really mess up the schedule for next week — if that Game 5 results in a win.

We’ve said it before:  if Atlanta is going to win and then if they’re going to have a reasonable shot at toppling the heavily-favored Dodgers, it needs to happen quickly — starting this week.

So that makes today all-important.  Getting Sanchez out of the game early would go a long way toward making that happen.

So good luck to Kyle… but let’s also break out the bats in support of him.