Today's Three Things: Atlanta gets walked off by Boston after terrible bullpen management
The Atlanta Braves let a winnable game slip away late
The Atlanta Braves got walked off by a Rafael Devers solo homer in the 9th inning, losing 5-4 to the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night in Fenway Park.
Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
Let’s go to the seventh inning. Grant Holmes got roughed upa bit his second time through the order, giving up a homer to Jarren Duran, but exited with a 6-2 lead.
Atlanta used Aaron Bummer and Enyel De Los Santos to get through the seventh, but only after allowing two runs to score and narrowing the lead to 6-4.
And then the Braves went to Rafael Montero for the 8th inning. Montero ended up allowing all three batters he faced to put balls in play at over 100 mph, with Trevor Story (102 mph) flying out, Abraham Toro (102.6 mph) doubling, and then Carlos Narváez (108.8 mph) singling. After Ceddanne Rafaela struck out, Atlanta went to Pierce Johnson against Jarred Duran, who hit a two-run single to right.
Johnson stayed out for the 9th, giving up the leadoff homer to Devers for the loss.
Manager Brian Snitker defended the decision to go to Montero after the game, saying, “We're staying away from a bunch of guys, and just hoping ... to ... you know ... get through it somehow.” MLB.com’s Mark Bowman elaborated that Raisel Iglesias, Daysbel Hernández, and Dylan Lee were all down for this game.
But I’m sorry, there are two issues with this.
The first is: Why is Dylan Lee down? He pitched Monday (eight pitches), Tuesday (13 pitches), and Thursday (13 pitches).
Secondly, did we not learn our lesson on Wednesday when this EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED?
In case you haven’t noticed, Snitker likes to pair off his relievers: Bummer, De Los Santos, and Montero all pitch together, while Johnson and Lee pitch together, if at all possible (Johnson would have gotten the save situation tonight). So, predicting who Atlanta would have gone to would have been easy for Boston to scout and be prepared.
But also, Scott Blewett hasn’t pitched since last Saturday. His last two times out, covering four innings in extras, he combined for one hit and no runs scored while striking out two.
This reminds me of the “Eddie Rosario as the pinch-hitter“ all over again - at some point, take Montero away so that Snitker can’t continue to try and use him in high-leverage situations. Replace him with Craig Kimbrel or literally anyone else in Gwinnett, at this point.
Today’s Player of the Game
I’m going to go with Matt Olson.
‘Oly’ went 3-5 today, hitting a solo homer in the first inning and driving in two runs for the game. While he’s struggled at times this season, his at-bats have been much better this week, and he appears on the verge of one of his patented heaters. Olson’s batting average is .286 with a .846 OPS over his last seven games, scoring four runs and driving in three more.
What You’ll Be Talking About (outside of the bullpen)
Alex Verdugo’s struggles.
Verudgo made two noteworthy mistakes in this one. In the top of the sixth (after Atlanta wasted a scoring chance by not having Eli White in motion on a Nick Allen at-bat that ended in a double play), Verdugo singled and was moved to second on an Austin Riley walk.
But when Matt Olson absolutely scalded a ball to left field, coming off the bat at 107.6 mph and on one hop to Jarren Duran, Verdugo tried to score from second and was thrown out easily at home - he stopped short of the plate because the ball beat him by ten feet. The out ended the inning and took the bat out of the hands of Marcell Ozuna, who was 1-2 with bases loaded this season and went 4-10 with ten RBI last season in those situations.
Verdugo then compounded the error in the bottom half of the 7th inning. With speedy Ceddane Rafaela on second base after a leadoff double, Devers hit a line drive to Verdugo, who came up throwing for home…but missed way up the first base line, allowing Devers to advance to second.
(Rafaela was already around third base when Verdugo started his throwing motion - even if the throw was on target, there’s no way he would have gotten Rafaela)
You can probably guess what happened next.
Devers scored from second on a double by Alex Bregman, although a ground out and a flyout ended the inning after that. If the not-speedy Devers is on first instead of second when Bregman comes to bat, the final run of the inning potentially doesn’t score, and it’s not a tie game in the 9th for Devers to walk it off.
With Ronald coming back next week - my guess is Tuesday for the series opener - I suspect we’re very close to a scenario where Eli White is the full-time starter in right field while Verdugo rides the bench as a pinch-hitting option late in games.
What’s Next for the Braves?
The Braves are looking to win the series on Sunday afternoon in a wonderfully alliterative matchup: Spencer Schwellenbach (2-3, 3.31) takes on Brayan Bello (2-0, 2.33) at 1:35 PM ET from Fenway Park.
Couldn't agree more with all of your outtakes on this one. Snit's handling of relief pitchers looks clueless to me. Frustrating.
Frustrating #2: Alex Verdugo. I'll add all the "timeless wonders" that Alex has signed this season in lieu of real ballplayers, which includes Rosario, Montero, de la Santos and Verdugo. OK: he was good for a month. But why not allow the speedy White to play in lieu of Verdugo. Last I saw Whhite had a better batting average against BOTH lefties and righties as Verdugo. And, Alex, I bet there is another manager/GM out there who may be repeating your disrespect for a guy who worked his way up thru 10-years of minors (remember Grant Holmes? He didn't turn out too bad). Why, these guys might turn out to be better (clubhouse, long-run batting avg., defense, speed) than the has-beens you're bringing in.
Btw, I couldn't see last night: did Verdugo get the "go on" from third base coach? Or did he do it on his own?