<img alt="Philadelphia Phillies v. Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tDbl-gytqTQSap0LeGh2-gkv0wk=/0x0:5320x3547/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73539281/2166931819.0.jpg">
Photo by Todd Kirkland/MLB Photos via Getty Images
Atlanta's pitching staff carried the load in this series and helped push the Braves to a crucial series win over the Phillies. The first part of this homestand for the Atlanta Braves has gotten off to a very good start, as the Braves managed to outduel the Phillies over the course of this three game series in order to gain some ground on their divisional foes. I’d imagine that we all would’ve taken a series win considering what Atlanta’s lineup currently looks like.
It was the type of feel-good series that the Braves needed — they picked up some games on the leader of the division and most importantly, nobody got injured! Shoot, they even got some good news on the injury front as Jorge Soler made a couple of appearances as a pinch hitter and should be in the lineup in this upcoming series against the Nationals.
Pitching comes up huge
The Braves only scored eight runs over the course of this three-game series. Usually that’s a recipe for a tough slog of a series but instead, Atlanta’s pitching staff came up absolutely huge in this series by holding the Phillies to five runs over the three games. Reynaldo López was fantastic in his return from injury as he went five innings and only gave up one run while striking out 10 Phillies batters in the first game. Max Fried followed that up with a start where he went seven innings and only gave up a pair of runs — the Braves lost that game but he could hardly be blamed for it. Spencer Schwellenbach made it three great starts in a row by going 6.2 innings and giving up a pair of runs as well and striking out nine.
As good as the starters were, the bullpen was arguably better. Atlanta's relievers (Grant Holmes, Joe Jiménez, Raisel Iglesias, Luke Jackson and Pierce Johnson) tossed 8.1 innings in this series and gave up a grand total of one, single solitary run. While that one run did end up proving costly in game two, the bullpen completely clamped down on Philadelphia in this series. As Austin Cain-Reach pointed out earlier this week, the bullpen has been excellent all season and this was yet another example of how they've played a huge role in keeping the Braves afloat this season.
Urshela and Merrifield step up their defense
Heading into this series, Trea Turner had grounded into a grand total of four double plays all season. The Phillies have their fair share of speedsters and Turner is certainly one of them and he's always extremely tough to double up. He left town with that tally having gone up to six double plays on the season as the Braves ended up getting him to GIDP twice in this series. This was mostly due to the fact that Gio Urshela and Whit Merrifield ended up becoming a pretty solid duo in the first two portions of the 6-4-3 double play trio.
It's actually a bit shocking when you consider that both Urshela and Merrifield haven't exactly been flashing the leather this season — both infielders are currently underwater for the season in terms of OAA and neither of them have had a reputation for sparkling defense for most of their careers. With that being said, both of them certainly stepped their respective games up in the field and it was largely due to Urshela simply staying steady at the hot corner and Merrifield getting the ball out extremely quickly when it came to turning double plays. As a result, they were both able to come up with some huge plays when Atlanta needed them and they certainly contributed in a major way to the Braves picking up the series win.
Can this team actually catch the Phillies?
Even with Atlanta picking up the series win against the Phillies, it's still a pretty long shot for the Braves to catch Philadelphia in the standings at this point. While it's fun to imagine what could've happened if this same scenario played out except with the Braves operating at full strength in terms of health, we're stuck in reality and the Braves have to play with the cards that they've been dealt. As currently constructed, this is a team that still essentially needs their pitching to be on their A-game on any given night if they're going to have a shot at winning since the offense is still prone to having stretches where runs are few and far in-between.
With that being said, the Phillies certainly don't look like the juggernaut they were to start the season. A lot of that has to do with the fact that their schedule has gotten much tougher as the season has progressed but at the same time, this team has clearly slowed down in terms of offense. One of the surest signs that there's a clear downturn for Philadelphia is that Bryce Harper has slowed down considerably in recent weeks. It's gotten to the point where Harper looked to be in serious trouble when Raisel Iglesias faced him down last night. Considering the lopsided history between these two, that was huge for Iglesias (who has been fantastic in recent weeks) and it's one of many signs that the Phillies are scuffling.
This isn't just a rough patch for them either, as it's been a trend for them since the start of July. They went 10-14 last month and are currently a game under .500 this month. I must reiterate that the Braves are still very much a longshot underdog to pull of this comeback but at the same time, things could get quite interesting in this division if Philadelphia continues to struggle between now and the series at Citizens Bank Park. If that happens and the Braves end up taking that series as well, then we just might have ourselves a very interesting September to look forward to.
For now, it's time for Atlanta to focus on taking down the Washington Nationals. It'd be a real shame to pick up a huge series win like this before having a letdown against the Nats, so it's extremely important for the Braves to stay locked in and keep the good vibes going in the right direction.
<img alt="Philadelphia Phillies v. Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/tDbl-gytqTQSap0LeGh2-gkv0wk=/0x0:5320x3547/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73539281/2166931819.0.jpg">
Photo by Todd Kirkland/MLB Photos via Getty Images
Atlanta's pitching staff carried the load in this series and helped push the Braves to a crucial series win over the Phillies. The first part of this homestand for the Atlanta Braves has gotten off to a very good start, as the Braves managed to outduel the Phillies over the course of this three game series in order to gain some ground on their divisional foes. I’d imagine that we all would’ve taken a series win considering what Atlanta’s lineup currently looks like.
It was the type of feel-good series that the Braves needed — they picked up some games on the leader of the division and most importantly, nobody got injured! Shoot, they even got some good news on the injury front as Jorge Soler made a couple of appearances as a pinch hitter and should be in the lineup in this upcoming series against the Nationals.
Pitching comes up huge
The Braves only scored eight runs over the course of this three-game series. Usually that’s a recipe for a tough slog of a series but instead, Atlanta’s pitching staff came up absolutely huge in this series by holding the Phillies to five runs over the three games. Reynaldo López was fantastic in his return from injury as he went five innings and only gave up one run while striking out 10 Phillies batters in the first game. Max Fried followed that up with a start where he went seven innings and only gave up a pair of runs — the Braves lost that game but he could hardly be blamed for it. Spencer Schwellenbach made it three great starts in a row by going 6.2 innings and giving up a pair of runs as well and striking out nine.
As good as the starters were, the bullpen was arguably better. Atlanta's relievers (Grant Holmes, Joe Jiménez, Raisel Iglesias, Luke Jackson and Pierce Johnson) tossed 8.1 innings in this series and gave up a grand total of one, single solitary run. While that one run did end up proving costly in game two, the bullpen completely clamped down on Philadelphia in this series. As Austin Cain-Reach pointed out earlier this week, the bullpen has been excellent all season and this was yet another example of how they've played a huge role in keeping the Braves afloat this season.
Urshela and Merrifield step up their defense
Heading into this series, Trea Turner had grounded into a grand total of four double plays all season. The Phillies have their fair share of speedsters and Turner is certainly one of them and he's always extremely tough to double up. He left town with that tally having gone up to six double plays on the season as the Braves ended up getting him to GIDP twice in this series. This was mostly due to the fact that Gio Urshela and Whit Merrifield ended up becoming a pretty solid duo in the first two portions of the 6-4-3 double play trio.
It's actually a bit shocking when you consider that both Urshela and Merrifield haven't exactly been flashing the leather this season — both infielders are currently underwater for the season in terms of OAA and neither of them have had a reputation for sparkling defense for most of their careers. With that being said, both of them certainly stepped their respective games up in the field and it was largely due to Urshela simply staying steady at the hot corner and Merrifield getting the ball out extremely quickly when it came to turning double plays. As a result, they were both able to come up with some huge plays when Atlanta needed them and they certainly contributed in a major way to the Braves picking up the series win.
Can this team actually catch the Phillies?
Even with Atlanta picking up the series win against the Phillies, it's still a pretty long shot for the Braves to catch Philadelphia in the standings at this point. While it's fun to imagine what could've happened if this same scenario played out except with the Braves operating at full strength in terms of health, we're stuck in reality and the Braves have to play with the cards that they've been dealt. As currently constructed, this is a team that still essentially needs their pitching to be on their A-game on any given night if they're going to have a shot at winning since the offense is still prone to having stretches where runs are few and far in-between.
With that being said, the Phillies certainly don't look like the juggernaut they were to start the season. A lot of that has to do with the fact that their schedule has gotten much tougher as the season has progressed but at the same time, this team has clearly slowed down in terms of offense. One of the surest signs that there's a clear downturn for Philadelphia is that Bryce Harper has slowed down considerably in recent weeks. It's gotten to the point where Harper looked to be in serious trouble when Raisel Iglesias faced him down last night. Considering the lopsided history between these two, that was huge for Iglesias (who has been fantastic in recent weeks) and it's one of many signs that the Phillies are scuffling.
This isn't just a rough patch for them either, as it's been a trend for them since the start of July. They went 10-14 last month and are currently a game under .500 this month. I must reiterate that the Braves are still very much a longshot underdog to pull of this comeback but at the same time, things could get quite interesting in this division if Philadelphia continues to struggle between now and the series at Citizens Bank Park. If that happens and the Braves end up taking that series as well, then we just might have ourselves a very interesting September to look forward to.
For now, it's time for Atlanta to focus on taking down the Washington Nationals. It'd be a real shame to pick up a huge series win like this before having a letdown against the Nats, so it's extremely important for the Braves to stay locked in and keep the good vibes going in the right direction.
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