3 Braves on thin ice with team’s cold start to August

1. Braves starting pitchers have not been doing their jobs

Pick a Braves starting pitcher, any of them. They’ve probably been an issue for this club that has put the team in bad spots consistently.

In two August starts, newcomer Yonny Chirinos has given up 13 hits, three walks and nine earned runs over 10.0 inning. Charlie Morton’s lone August start saw him give up four hits, four walks and five earned runs over 4.1 innings. And Bryce Elder followed up getting shelled by the Cubs for seven runs (five earned) in 4.1 innings by giving up six hits, two walks and five earned runs over 5.0 innings on Wednesday against the Pirates in the loss.

Perhaps the biggest offender is Spencer Strider. The mustachioed flamethrower who had emerged as the club’s ace this season has looked far from that with a 6.75 ERA and 1.61 WHIP in his two August starts, giving up 10 hits, five walks and seven earned runs over ust 9.1 innings of work to this point. Yes, the strikeouts are still there, but his ERA has ballooned to 3.94, which is obviously less than ideal.

Ironically enough, the only starter who you probably can’t pick a bone with is Max Fried. Though he gave up four runs in his Aug. 9 start — his second since returning from the IL — he held the Cubs scoreless and set the tone for the aforementioned 8-0 drubbing that opened that series.

Since the All-Star break, the only team with a worse ERA from their starters (6.15 for the Braves) is, coincidentally, the Pirates (6.21). For a group that held it together so admirably and impressively with Fried, Kyle Wright and others on the shelf with injuries, they’ve lost their mojo, which has put an inordinate amount of pressure on the offense.

It’s a testament to the offense that the team is still 5-4 in August in spite of the pitching performances they’ve had to combat from their own staff. But if this team wants to win a World Series, something has to be fixed with the starters.