3 Atlanta Braves to blame for disastrous series loss to bottom-dwelling A’s

1. Raisel Iglesias, RP

One group of players that you certainly can’t blame for the two losses in Oakland is the starting pitching. Michael Soroka made his first start for the Braves since 2020 and was just about everything the club could’ve asked for, especially with the hope that the offense could manage runs against the worst pitching staff in baseball, lasting 6.0 innings and giving up four runs on five hits and two walks.

That was followed up by another Bryce Elder gem as he lasted 7.1 innings, giving up just one run on five hits and three walks against the A’s.

It’s hard not to look at Raisel Iglesias, though, and not think that he continues to be a major, major problem — or at least a big-time concern — at the back end of the bullpen. And that was abundantly clear in the Tuesday night loss.

With the game tied 1-1 entering the bottom of the ninth, Iglesias took the hill. With zero control it seemed, he walked the bases loaded while getting just one out, then allowed hard contact on a screamer to third base. Admittedly, Austin Riley was charged with an error as he couldn’t handle it, allowing the walk-off to occur with the winning run crossing, but they would’ve never been in that position if not for Iglesias.

Things had seemingly been turning around majorly for Iglesias as he hadn’t allowed a run in five appearances since May 14. But to deliver that type of dud against the worst team in MLB is unacceptable and starts to softly sound the alarms about the back-end of the bullpen once again.