PITTSBURGH — There is an amazing part to this recent stretch for the Braves: Their starting pitching has not been good – in fact, it has been bad – but they’ve still had a chance to win every game.
On Thursday, they came up short, as they lost 7-5 to the Pirates at PNC Park. The teams split the four-game series.
Five observations:
1. Over the Braves’ past six games – including Thursday – their starting pitchers have combined to allow 31 earned runs over 25-1/3 innings.
Ouch.
“On this road trip, we’ve scored enough runs to win every game we’ve played,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Just kind of a little bump in the road with the pitching – starting pitching, really. Hopefully these guys will get it turned around. … They’re not immune to having to get through some rough times themselves. Hopefully they’ll right the ship and figure things out. If they get going, we’ll get going.”
Since Max Fried tossed six shutout innings in Chicago on Aug. 4, no Braves starter has pitched more than five innings. And no one has surrendered fewer than four runs.
Without good starting pitching, the Braves went 2-4 over this six-game stretch. Their offense performed so well that they had chances to win all six games.
Since the All-Star break, the Braves are 12-12.
“I would love to say that we could have the month of June every single month, but that’s pretty unrealistic,” said Bryce Elder, who had another rough start Thursday. “I think that all good teams go through some rough patches. I think this is – I don’t want to call it scuffling because I don’t think we are at all. I just think we haven’t been winning at the rate we were. I would rather have a couple bumps in the road now than have a couple bumps in the road at the end of September. I think if we just keep going, it’ll be just fine.”
2. In the clubhouse after his start, Elder looked up at the television when Matt Olson was taking his last at-bat.
The graphic noted that Olson had 40 home runs.
“That’s pretty impressive,” Elder said. “Especially on Aug. 10.”
On Thursday afternoon, Snitker and catcher Sean Murphy were talking about Olson, whose third-inning home run gave him a career-high 40 homers. He tied Shohei Ohtani for the MLB lead in homers, while his 101 RBIs leads the majors.
“It’s not even the (third) week of August, and we got a 40-100 guy,” Snitker said. “That’s amazing, what he’s done. Kind of quietly, too. There’s not a whole lot written or talked about. This guy’s having as good a year as anybody in the game.”
The best things said about Olson are not said by Olson himself. Asked about reaching 40 homers, he reacted with his usual humility.
“It’s a good, clean number, or whatever,” Olson said. “It’s one of those milestone numbers. But hopefully there’s more. I’m gonna enjoy it for a second and get back to work tomorrow.”
3. When discussing Olson, Elder remarked: “It’s crazy that it’s not getting talked about – obviously, because (Ronald Acuña Jr.) is doing what he’s doing.”
Olson doesn’t seem like the type to be bothered by this.
“I actually kind of like it,” he said with a smile. “I think we should keep it that way.”
Olson accomplished something remarkable: He reached 40 home runs in fewer games than anyone in Braves history – by 13 team games. In 2005, Andruw Jones hit his 40th home run in his 125th game of the season, which was the Braves’ 126th game.
On Thursday, Olson blasted his 40th homer in the Braves’ 113th game of the season.
Babe Ruth leads the list of players to reach 40 home runs and 100 RBIs in their team’s first 113 games of a season – which now includes Olson. Ruth did it in 106 games played (for him personally). Olson’s name is now with players such as Mickey Mantle, Mark McGwire, Aaron Judge and others.
4. Elder described his recent starts like this: Good, sloppy, good, sloppy.
All in the same outing.
“And when it does get sloppy, it just kind of compounds,” he said. “There’s that one pitch that if I execute, I think I get out of it. I think just a couple more pitches executed, I think we’d be having a totally different conversation.”
Elder on Thursday was charged with five runs over five innings. He pitched two scoreless innings, then allowed three runs in the third. Then he tossed two more scoreless frames before the Pirates broke through again in the sixth.
5. It is August. This is a long season.
But it isn’t difficult for the Braves to stay locked in every day.
“We’re still playing really meaningful games,” Olson said. “We want to continue to kind of keep rising toward the end. Hopefully get on a roll here at the end and hopefully be in the postseason, and make a run.”
Stat to know
6.15 — Braves starters have combined for a 6.15 ERA since the All-Star break, the second-worst mark ahead of only Pittsburgh.
Quotable
“He’s been unbelievable. To me, (he should) garner more praise than what he’s getting, really, for the season that he’s having, just the entire game and how he plays. It’s been really special.” – Snitker on Olson
Up next
Charlie Morton will start Friday’s series opener versus the Mets at Citi Field. First pitch is at 7:10 p.m.
