Today's Three Things: Atlanta's bullpen collapses late as New York evens series

Atlanta's bullpen allowed runs in every single inning they pitched of a series-tying loss

The Atlanta Braves watched their bullpen get shelled in a 12-9 loss to the New York Yankees on Saturday night in Truist Park.

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

The Turning Point

The bottom of the 7th.

Having already blown leads of 5-0 and 7-2, with the score sitting on 8-7, the Braves had a chance to push the game back out of reach. With Jonathan Loáisiga coming back out for another inning of work, Sean Murphy immediately got him in trouble with a one-out single to left. Ozzie Albies then walked and Nacho Alvarez Jr. wore a 96 mph sinker in the back to load the bases.

And somehow, Atlanta didn’t score.

Luke Weaver came out to face Michael Harris II, who struck out on a foul tip before Nick Allen flew out to right to end the inning.

For those of you keeping score at home, New York had a similar situation in the top of the 6th inning and they scored four runs in the frame, bringing everyone on base in to score plus one more. Atlanta's offense, backed up by a leaky bullpen, couldn’t do the same to put the game away.

Today’s Player of the Game

We’re sharing the award between Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies.

For Money Mike, he got the scoring started tonight with a solo homer in the 3rd inning. He followed that up with an ELEVEN pitch walk in the bottom of the 4th, one where he got five pitches out of the zone and only swung at one of them. That walk was his first in 178 plate appearances, dating back to May 18th (47 games ago).

For Ozzie, he hit a three-run homer for the second consecutive night, banging this one off the foul pole in the 4th inning. He added a two-RBI single in the 6th, giving him five RBI for the game and nine for the series. All five of his tonight came with two outs, as well.

Both players have made some changes recently - Harris has reworked his swing and setup to be closer to his 2022 form, while Ozzie’s adjusted his hand placement and stance a bit. I already planned on using Monday’s newsletter to break both of them down, especially after getting some quotes on Friday night from Harris about his reasoning for the change. Stay tuned for that.

What You’ll Be Talking About

The Braves bullpen.

Joey Wentz was pulled after four scoreless innings, having allowed only two hits and one walk in what was his longest outing of the year (by both pitch count and innings).

And then it went off the rails.

Wander Suero allowed a two-run homer to Anthony Volpe in the 5th, getting the Yankees on the board. Enyel De Los Santos came in for the 6th and didn’t record an out, getting charged for four runs (three earned) on three hits and a walk. Rafael Montero got out of the inning eventually, but all of the runners he inherited from EDLS scored in the process, turning what was a 5-0 game when Wentz left into a slim 7-6 lead.

The Braves’ offense kept battling, but New York just wouldn’t quit scoring against Atlanta’s relievers. After going down 7-2, New York scored ten runs and allowed just one to Atlanta, including scoring in each of the final five frames of the contest.

The positive spin here was that most of the runs came off of relievers who likely aren’t part of the 2026 roster, with the exception of Dylan Lee’s solo homer allowed in the 8th inning that tied the game at eight. Raisel Iglesias, who allowed a grand slam in the 9th to blow this one open for New York, is a pending free agent while Wander Suero (5th), De Los Santos and Rafael Montero (6th), and possibly even Pierce Johnson (7th) aren’t expected to play large roles on next year’s roster.

Looking for more discussion about this game?

Here’s tonight’s Postcast, with me and Locked On Braves host Jake Mastroianni, as we went live to break down the win/loss.

What’s Next for the Braves?

Tomorrow afternoon is the series finale, coming at 1:35 PM ET. Grant Holmes (4-8, 3.77) takes the ball opposite Marcus Stroman (1-1, 6.66).

(Programming note - there’s no game story or Postcast coming tomorrow, as I’m out of town with my family for a special event. Back to it on Monday.)