Today's Three Things: Braves bullpen falters late in close loss to Washington

The Braves continue to have question about their bullpen usage, including where Raisel Iglesias is and when he'll be able to go into a game.

The Atlanta Braves bullpen dropped a late lead in their 5-4 loss to the Washington Nationals from Truist Park on Wednesday night.

Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.

The Turning Point

We’re going to get to the bullpen issues in this one, so I’ll cheat a bit here and say Atlanta’s fifth inning on offense.

Up 2-1, Atlanta managed to get Mitchell Parker out of the game but didn’t score enough in the frame. Stuart Fairchild and Nick Allen both walked to get two on for the top of the order, but Eli White struck out looking (albeit in an intense eleven-pitch at-bat) and Austin Riley sent a one-hopper up the middle and off of Parker’s knee, forcing him from the game after the out was made at first.

Thankfully, Marcell Ozuna doubled off of Jackson Rutledge to get the runners in and push Atlanta’s lead to 4-1, but that would be all the Braves could do there. Matt Olson popped out to foul territory, part of a disappointing homestand for the veteran.

Today’s Player of the Game

Bryce Elder - this dude’s back.

The sinkerballer went six innings with just one run allowed, which came on two hits and a HBP in the first inning. After that frame, he pitched five more with three scattered singles, one walk, and three strikeouts.

The big thing for me here is that he clearly didn’t have his best stuff - Elder picked up just four whiffs on his slider and had a paltry 23% CSW for the contest - but he still kept Washington off the board after that first frame.

This was his fourth quality start in his last five outings, and from an inputs perspective, he’s been on par with his All-Star campaign of 2023. Expect a deep dive into Bryce Elder in your inboxes on Friday.

What You’ll Be Talking About

The pitching decisions in this one.

You’ll remember, Pierce Johnson got the save last night after both Daysbel Hernández and Raisel Iglesias got the day off. But again, the “17 games in 17 days” thing reared its ugly head.

After Elder completed his six innings, Atlanta went to Aaron Bummer for the 7th inning. The lefty groundball specialist got his groundballs, but some defensive miscues (an Austin Riley error) and those aforementioned groundballs getting through the infield and to the grass meant that two runs came in, narrowing the lead to one.

So they pulled Bummer for Enyel De Los Santos, who got a pop out to end the inning and strand a runner on 2nd. But coming back out for the 8th, De Los Santos walked CJ Abrams, threw the ball away when trying to pick him off (letting him advance to third), and then gave up a single and double that blew the lead. The Braves went to Rafael Montero, who got a groundout and two strikeouts to end the Nationals' threat and strand James Wood on third, but it was too little, too late.

I understand Atlanta’s desire to bridge relievers over the half-inning and “steal” an out or two. But with two rested high-leverage relievers available in the pen, people are going to ask about the usage.

For the record, I’m okay with most of it. The real two questionable decisions, to me, are these:

1. Pulling Elder at just 82 pitches and after he had already gotten through the top three in the order in the 6th. If you’re wanting to steal outs, let it be the guy who is used to throwing 20+ more pitches than he did and has gotten past the most dangerous part of Washington’s order.

2. Sending De Los Santos back out for the 8th after he just adrenaline dumped to get out of a jam in the 7th. Darren O’Day on the radio broadcast was as surprised as I was; it’s conventional for relievers who come in and get out of a jam to be done for the night.

Update: We found out after the game that Raisel Iglesias wasn’t available tonight, so Daysbel Hernández was being held for a save situation in the 9th.

There’s a potential third conversation to be had about Rafael Montero coming in the game with a runner on base and no outs in the 8th, but in the situation of Atlanta being behind in the game, it was too late to go to a high-leverage reliever and so I’m fine with it.

Before you can say “well, Montero got out of the inning with no damange so it was the right call,” remember this: Just because the decision worked this time doesn’t inherently make it good - you need to judge the decision at the time it’s made, since that is the same amount of information the person making the decision had, not after the fact, when you know the result.

What’s Next for the Braves?

The Braves look to take the series tomorrow on getaway day. AJ Smith-Shawver (2-2, 2.76 ERA) takes the mound for Atlanta opposite Trevor Williams (2-4, 5.88 ERA) at 12:15 PM ET.