Braves flash, but bullpen falters late again in Friday night loss to Padres
The Atlanta Braves battled with San Diego, but another late homer from the bullpen is going to prompt more questions
The Atlanta Braves continued their slow start to the 2025 season, dropping game two to the San Diego Padres 4-3 in Petco Park on Friday night.
Here’s what you need to know about from the contest.
The offensive approaches are STELLAR
Let me walk you through an inning that virtually never went Atlanta’s way last season.
Bottom of the third, the Braves quickly got to two outs - this was the end of a streak for Cease of five strikeouts in six at-bats.
And then: Jurickson Profar singles, Austin Riley draws a walk on four pitches, and then Matt Olson does the same on eight (!) pitches. Marcell Ozuna promptly ripped a two-RBI single through the right side, tying the game up. Twenty pitches for the quartet1, including seven to Profar and eight to Olson.
That’s not something that would have happened last season, or even the last few. It’s a sign of new patience and improved batter eye - Riley looked at two sliders off the plate and a knuckle curve that Cease tried to catch the corner with, while Olson refused to chase the knuckle curve or changeup down low and battled back from 0-2 to get on base.
In Tim Hyers we trust.
López lacked whiffs in this one
This game had the usual early concerns about Reynaldo López and his velocity - his first pitch was a center-cut 92.7 mph fastball that Fernando Tatis Jr. absolutely launched into left-center field at 110.6 off the bat.
But as he is wont to do, López recovered - Tatis flew out on a 97.9 mph fastball his next time up and grounded out on a 97 mph heater his third time through.
What didn’t recover, however, was the whiffs. López picked up just three of them, in ninety-four pitches. He got just one on the fastball, in twenty-seven swings, while adding two more on the slider in seven swings.
It was a weird aggressiveness by San Diego on Reynaldo’s heater (27 swings in 49 pitches), to the point where people on Twitter/X were openly asking if López was somehow tipping his pitches. While I haven’t seen anything that made me think that was the case (although in my defense, I also haven’t been looking for it), it’s something to watch for as we progress.
A change at shortstop?
Nick Allen got the start in lieu of Orlando Arcia on Friday night, partly owing to his career success off of Padres starter Dylan Cease - he’s 4-7 with a double, four RBIs, and one strikeout. By contrast, Orlando Arcia was just 1-for-6 with three punchouts off of Cease.
(It also helps that Allen is a native of San Diego who was drafted out of nearby Francis Parker HS. He had quite a bit of family on hand for his first career appearance in Petco Park.)
But despite the superior defender being in the game in Allen2, the infield defense struggled a bit early. The Braves failed to complete the second half of two different double play balls in the bottom of the 2nd, and both were potentially a direct result of poor arm strength.
On the first, Ozzie’s throw to first was just 67.6 mph and Xander Bogaerts beat the throw. The next was a 64.8 mph throw from Allen to Matt Olson, although he did have Jake Cronenworth practically on top of him as he made the turn.
By contrast, Arcia does have above-average arm strength but has been a black hole offensively for the last two seasons. For that reason, he never got off the bench in this one. Allen was allowed to stay in the game late and take his scheduled at-bat in the top of the 9th rather than be pinch-hit for, lining out to deep center field. Allen finished 1-4 on the night.
I’ve been saying for a while that Ozzie Albies is already on the designated hitter glide path - if he’s re-signed when his club options are up, which I don’t think is a guarantee, he’s likely to be transitioning to DH sooner rather than later.
So figuring out the “succession plan” in the middle infield - a starter at shortstop and a potential replacement for Ozzie Albies, depending on if he’s extended and if his declining arm strength can let him stay at the position - needs to be towards the very top of the organization’s to-do list for this offseason.
Another bullpen bomb
Last night it was Héctor Neris, tonight it was Dylan Lee.
After an incredibly quick 7th inning from Lee, on just eleven pitches, Atlanta oddly sent him back out for the eighth. A second night on the back end of back-to-back outings is an odd decision by manager Brian Snitker, and it completely backfired.
EDIT: Snit said after the game that Lee was only coming back in the game to face Cronenworth before they made a bullpen change.
Jake Cronenworth hit a leadoff, go-ahead homer to break the 3-3 tie, getting an absolutely grooved slider and launching it to right field at 101.7 off the bat.
Atlanta immediately made the switch to Daysbel Hernández, who retired the side on just seven pitches, but the damage was done. That’s now two straight games where the bullpen took the loss for Atlanta, and their 0-2 start to the season is the longest season-opening losing streak for the franchise since 0-4 in 2021.
What’s next for the Atlanta Braves?
The Braves are back at it tomorrow, hoping to take the first step towards a series split. Spencer Schwellenbach gets the start for Atlanta opposite righty Randy Vásquez for San Diego. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 PM ET on Fox.
Ozuna got his hit on the first pitch, severely impacting this average
In around one year’s worth of innings, Allen has put up +8 OAA, +6 Fielding RV, and +13 DRS while last season, Orlando Arcia had just +4 OAA, +3 FRV, and -1 DRS last year. Arcia was even worse in 2023 from a DRS perspective at -6.
Of course, you know the season is over. In fact, they should trade Lopez, sale, Ozzy, Olsen, and anybody else before their value craters keep the spencer’s and Baldwin. And, do a complete rebuild around them.