The Atlanta Braves seemingly had a series win over the Boston Red Sox in the bag on Saturday night. The Braves were leading as much as 5-0 in Boston, and entered the eighth inning with a 6-4 lead. All the Braves needed was the bullpen to do their part and keep the score as is.
But in the bottom of the eighth inning, Braves manager Brian Snitker made a head-scratching decision. Instead of going to another one of his available bullpen arms, he decided to go with Rafael Montero, who has been anything but a sure thing this season. That's evidenced by his 3.97 ERA entering Saturday's game, which isn't great for a bullpen arm.
Sure enough, Montero blew the game for the Braves, as he surrendered two earned runs on two hits on four batters faced.
Hi yes if the Braves have "rested arms in the bullpen", per Snit, why is Rafael Montero getting up for the 8th instead of Daysbel or Dylan Lee or even Scott Blewett?
— Lindsay Crosby, big baseball guy (@CrosbyBaseball) May 18, 2025
For more news and rumors, check out MLB Insider Robert Murray’s work on The Baseball Insiders podcast, subscribe to The Moonshot, our weekly MLB newsletter, and join the discord to get the inside scoop during the MLB season.
Brian Snitker's Rafael Montero decision backfires, costs Braves win vs. Red Sox
At first, Montero seemingly got off to the right start, forcing Trevor Story to fly out for the first out of the inning. But then, Montero surrendered a double to Abraham Toro and a single to Carlos Narvaez in succession. After striking out Ceddanne Rafaela, Snitker pulled Montero from the game. But the damage was done.
Pierce Johnson entered the game and gave up a bases-clearing single to Jarren Duran to tie the game up.
In the ninth inning, the Braves were unable to knock in the go-ahead runner despite having two runners on base. In the bottom of the frame, Johnson surrendered an immediate walk-off home run to Red Sox star Rafael Devers to clinch the 7-6 loss.
Let's just say that some Braves fans weren't thrilled with the decision.
We have tried Rafael Montero like 6 times in high leverage late game situations and I feel like it hasn’t worked once
— Clayton (@BravesClayton) May 18, 2025
I’m not just saying this because putting up 4 scoreless Manfred innings is hard and he did it…
— The Issues of My Time (@IssuesOfMyTime) May 18, 2025
…but if you have Enyel De Los Santos and Rafael Montero higher up in your trust circle than Scott Blewett, you are an utter imbecile of a manager. I can’t be more blunt if I tried. https://t.co/QDLzFRGpXn
Get Rafael Montero off my baseball team.
— Red Beard Baseball (@redbeardbsbl) May 18, 2025
Get Rafael Montero off this team PLEASE!!!
— SCW (@steveAKAslick) May 18, 2025
WTF is Snitker doing?!?!#Braves #BravesCountry
This is now the third time in four appearances in which Montero gave up at least one earned run . While he did pitch two scoreless innings in this past Wednesday's game against the Washington Nationals, Montero was called upon again on one-game's rest by Snitker to hold a two-run lead. Of course, that didn't work.
As Grant McAuley of 92.9 The Game said, if Snitker was going to use Johnson in a late relief apperance, why even bother bringing in Montero?
If you're going to use Pierce Johnson, why even mess with Rafael Montero, especially in a leverage spot?
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) May 18, 2025
Snitker will look back at this game as one that got away from him. Now, the Braves are back to .500, and their series against the Red Sox will be on the line on Sunday afternoon.