3 Braves to blame for not taking advantage of massive NL East opportunity

The Atlanta Braves entered their four-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies with optimism. 

Despite being five games behind the Phillies in the National League East division, the Braves had just swept the Minnesota Twins on the road and were one of the hottest teams in the majors. The 10-game division lead that Philadelphia held in July had significantly shrunken down. After winning 12 of their last 16 games, there was hope the Braves could pull within one game of the division lead by the conclusion of their last series against the Phillies. 

That didn’t happen, as the Braves came away with just one win in the four games. The Phillies lead the NL East by seven games, and they seem to have dashed any hopes the Braves had of winning a seventh consecutive division title. The Phillies have a 95.9 percent chance of clinching the division after the series, according to FanGraphs. With just a 3.3 percent chance of winning the division, Atlanta would need a miracle to prevent the Phillies from capturing their first division crown since 2011.

The Phillies rallied back from a four-run deficit to take a 5-4 victory in the series opener on Thursday. Atlanta managed a 7-2 victory in the second game, but their offense fell flat in a 3-0 shutout on Saturday. The Phillies wrapped up the series on Sunday with a 3-2 walk-off victory in extra innings. 

Grant Holmes

In the series opener, Braves pitcher Grant Holmes decided to test Nick Castellanos with fastballs in the series opener and surrendered a two-run home run that gave the Phillies the lead.

Holmes had a chance to exact revenge in the series finale on Sunday. Instead, he entered the series finale and gift wrapped the victory for the Phillies. Tied 2-2 in the 11th inning, the Braves asked Holmes to face Castellanos once again, this time with two outs and the winning run on third base. Holmes once again threw a fastball, and he paid the price. Castellanos cracked the ball for a game-winning single to win the game. 

Manager Brian Snitker

There is plenty of blame to go around for Atlanta’s collapse, but no one deserves more than Braves manager Brian Snitker. There were plenty of questionable decisions made throughout the series, but many of them had to do with not taking out a player when he should have.

In the series opener, Braves starter Charlie Morton had gone over 100 pitches for just the third time this season. Snitker decided to leave him in. Then, Phillies right fielder Brandon Marsh stepped up to the plate. Marsh has struggled against left-handed pitchers this season, striking out 31 times in 74 plate appearances. The Braves had lefty Aaron Bummer warming up. Yet, Snitker decided to leave Morton in. Then, of course, Marsh hit Morton’s curveball over the fence for a three-run home run. 

In the series finale, Snitker repeated the mistake, this time opting to leave Spencer Schwellenbach in the game for a bit too long. Schwellenbach got off to a hot start, but surrendered a single to Trea Turner and a double to Bryce Harper. Snitker left the pitcher in anyway. Schwellenbach pitched a bad slider that resulted in Castellanos tying the game with a double. 

The Braves offense

No single batter should be singled out here in particular. This spot should go to the entire Braves offense collectively. After getting shut out in their 3-0 loss on Saturday, Atlanta once again failed to produce a run when they needed it most.

Phillies starter Aaron Nola struck out nine in six innings on Sunday. From there, Philadelphia’s bullpen pitched five scoreless innings in relief of Nola. The Braves failed to get the one run they needed as the Phillies rotated Orion Kerkering, Jeff Hoffman, Matt Strahm and closer Carlos Estévez through five scoreless innings.

Even when the Braves managed to get the bases loaded with just one out against Strahm in the ninth inning, Orlando Arcia and Luke Williams failed to do anything with it. Estévez, who pitched two innings for only the second time this season, stranded the Braves’ automatic runner both times.