<img alt="Atlanta Braves v Minnesota Twins" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/h4H_AZC3Sx9oY9numEv4NT2OyeU=/0x0:6841x4561/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73594265/2170403844.0.jpg">
Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images
This losing streak has to end and it’s got to end, now. The Atlanta Braves have picked an absolutely horrible time to drop three-straight games and it’s incredibly important to make sure that it doesn’t get to four losses in a row. They have to stop the bleeding and it starts with this middle game of their three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds.
The good news for Atlanta is that they’ll have one of their regular starters going for this one. Spencer Schwellenbach is getting the ball to start tonight’s game and while Grant Holmes did perfectly fine in his appearance last night, you have to imagine that the Braves are looking for more and surely Schwellenbach seems like a solid candidate to deliver more for the Braves.
Schwellenbach’s last start was definitely a positive, as he pitched six strong innings against the Dodgers where he only gave up two runs and struck out six batters, with only four hits and one walk allowed as well. It was a solid bounce-back performance from Schwellenbach and one that we’ve come to expect from him. He’s going to have his fair share of ups-and-downs as a rookie but the good news for the Braves is that he’s kept the downs to a minimum and made sure that any time he has hit a valley, he’s gone right back up to the peak shortly afterwards.
If Schwellenbach does figure it out against Cincinnati, then that’ll be a breath of fresh air since the Reds have been incredibly frustrating for Atlanta to deal with this season. The Reds took all three games in Cobb County and last night’s calamitous loss for the Braves helped ensure that the Reds picked up the series win. Cincinnati’s just had their number over these four games so far and it seems like it hasn’t mattered whether the pitching has been there or not or if the offense shows up. The Reds have just been a major thorn in Atlanta’s side and the Braves have got to figure out a way to finish off a win against this team.
If they’re going to do it then they’ll have to get it done against Jakob Junis. Junis started the season with the Milwaukee Brewers and was solid for them before he was part of one of those rare intra-divisional trades where the Brewers got Frankie Montas from the Reds in exchange for both Junis and Joey Wiemer. Ever since Junis has gotten to Cincinnati, he’s been a reliable arm for them and has been very good when called upon to start.
In his past two starts, he’s gone five innings in each of them and only given up one run (against the Cardinals on September 12) or shut them out while he was out there (against the Mets on September 7). I’m saying that to say that while it would be pleasant to see Atlanta’s offense jump on him like they did Brandon Williamson (who suffered an unfortunate injury last night), I wouldn’t really count on it. This game has “pitcher’s duel” written all over it but with Atlanta’s record in low-scoring games so far this season, that’ll probably suit them just fine.
With that being said, I don’t think that the Braves are really in a position to be picky about where their wins come from. They just need to find a way to do it. Whether it’s from a pitcher’s duel or whether they can figure out a way to consistently win games where the other team scores four runs (and last night was yet another failure in what’s been a long line of failures for the Braves to win anything even close to being a slugfest), they’ve just got to find a way to end this skid. Someone’s got to step up and maybe it’ll start tonight with a strong start from Spencer Schwellenbach and Atlanta’s offense taking advantage of the favorable environment for hitting in Cincinnati. We’ll see, though. They’re going in the wrong direction at the worst possible time and they’ve got to turn it around.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Wednesday, September 18, 6:40 p.m. ET
Location: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, OH
TV: Bally Sports South
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
<img alt="Atlanta Braves v Minnesota Twins" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/h4H_AZC3Sx9oY9numEv4NT2OyeU=/0x0:6841x4561/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73594265/2170403844.0.jpg">
Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images
This losing streak has to end and it’s got to end, now. The Atlanta Braves have picked an absolutely horrible time to drop three-straight games and it’s incredibly important to make sure that it doesn’t get to four losses in a row. They have to stop the bleeding and it starts with this middle game of their three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds.
The good news for Atlanta is that they’ll have one of their regular starters going for this one. Spencer Schwellenbach is getting the ball to start tonight’s game and while Grant Holmes did perfectly fine in his appearance last night, you have to imagine that the Braves are looking for more and surely Schwellenbach seems like a solid candidate to deliver more for the Braves.
Schwellenbach’s last start was definitely a positive, as he pitched six strong innings against the Dodgers where he only gave up two runs and struck out six batters, with only four hits and one walk allowed as well. It was a solid bounce-back performance from Schwellenbach and one that we’ve come to expect from him. He’s going to have his fair share of ups-and-downs as a rookie but the good news for the Braves is that he’s kept the downs to a minimum and made sure that any time he has hit a valley, he’s gone right back up to the peak shortly afterwards.
If Schwellenbach does figure it out against Cincinnati, then that’ll be a breath of fresh air since the Reds have been incredibly frustrating for Atlanta to deal with this season. The Reds took all three games in Cobb County and last night’s calamitous loss for the Braves helped ensure that the Reds picked up the series win. Cincinnati’s just had their number over these four games so far and it seems like it hasn’t mattered whether the pitching has been there or not or if the offense shows up. The Reds have just been a major thorn in Atlanta’s side and the Braves have got to figure out a way to finish off a win against this team.
If they’re going to do it then they’ll have to get it done against Jakob Junis. Junis started the season with the Milwaukee Brewers and was solid for them before he was part of one of those rare intra-divisional trades where the Brewers got Frankie Montas from the Reds in exchange for both Junis and Joey Wiemer. Ever since Junis has gotten to Cincinnati, he’s been a reliable arm for them and has been very good when called upon to start.
In his past two starts, he’s gone five innings in each of them and only given up one run (against the Cardinals on September 12) or shut them out while he was out there (against the Mets on September 7). I’m saying that to say that while it would be pleasant to see Atlanta’s offense jump on him like they did Brandon Williamson (who suffered an unfortunate injury last night), I wouldn’t really count on it. This game has “pitcher’s duel” written all over it but with Atlanta’s record in low-scoring games so far this season, that’ll probably suit them just fine.
With that being said, I don’t think that the Braves are really in a position to be picky about where their wins come from. They just need to find a way to do it. Whether it’s from a pitcher’s duel or whether they can figure out a way to consistently win games where the other team scores four runs (and last night was yet another failure in what’s been a long line of failures for the Braves to win anything even close to being a slugfest), they’ve just got to find a way to end this skid. Someone’s got to step up and maybe it’ll start tonight with a strong start from Spencer Schwellenbach and Atlanta’s offense taking advantage of the favorable environment for hitting in Cincinnati. We’ll see, though. They’re going in the wrong direction at the worst possible time and they’ve got to turn it around.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Wednesday, September 18, 6:40 p.m. ET
Location: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, OH
TV: Bally Sports South
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
Link to original article
