<img alt="Wild Card Series - Atlanta Braves v San Diego Padres - Game 1" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eIILXncLAoc_dHVzW5A1S4cpskY=/0x0:7111x4741/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73626145/2176012780.0.jpg">
Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images
Snitker wasn’t particularly upset with Smith-Shawver. Rather, he would’ve preferred to have seen his lineup show some life in Game 1. Despite dropping Tuesday night’s NL Wild Card series opener to the San Diego Padres and subsequently finding themselves one loss away from elimination for the second time this week, Atlanta Braves Brian Snitker is still keeping an even keel heading into a win-or-go-home Game 2.
Obviously, everyone is going to second-guess the decision to start AJ Smith-Shawver in this one after AJ gave up three runs in just 1.1 innings of work. However, Snitker explained that he was forced to go with Plan B after Plan A went out of the window following the bullpen’s calamitous collapse during the first game of Monday’s doubleheader. Snitker explained to reporters after the game that Plan A would’ve been to start Grant Holmes for Game 1. Instead, they turned to him to start on Monday evening on short notice and decided to go with AJ Smith-Shawver tonight.
Snitker admitted to the press that “we don’t know any of those guys what we’re going to get when we start them,” which is honestly a fair statement considering how much of a rollercoaster that a guy like Bryce Elder has been on whenever he’s made spot starts this season. Snitker also stuck by his decision to go with Smith-Shawver instead of Ian Anderson — in the pregame press conference, Snitker explained that he didn’t go with Anderson since he hadn’t pitched in the majors in such a long time.
With all of that being said, Snitker felt as if AJ Smith-Shawver wasn’t the main reason why the Braves lost tonight. Padres starter Michael King delivered one of his best performances of the season in Game 1 and Snitker was effusive when it came to praising King for his efforts. However, he continued to state that Atlanta’s offense going quiet was probably the reason why they were unable to pick up the win in Game 1. “You’ve still got to punch back and score. It wasn’t who we started,” said Snitker when he was asked about the decision to start AJ Smith-Shawver “We just couldn’t get anything going against their starter.”
Indeed, it’s pretty hard to win when you strike out 15 times in one game like the Braves did. Game 1 was a rough night indeed but at the same time, Brian Snitker is feeling confident that his team will respond with their backs against the wall. “I feel good,” said Snitker when asked about Atlanta’s chances of winning Game 2. He’s taking a “one day at a time” approach to things as he went on to say that “We don’t have to win two in a row, we’ve just got to win tomorrow. We’re sitting pretty good with Max Fried on the mound for us tomorrow [...] The bullpen had a day off, which is really good, and it will be all hands on deck again tomorrow.”
The Braves were quite clearly not operating at their usual strength when it came to their pitching staff but as you can see, they’ll be pulling out all the stops in order to make sure that their season doesn’t end when Game 2 does. It’s not going to get any easier for Atlanta’s offense as Joe Musgrove has been on a bit of a roll to end the season but Atlanta’s got no choice but to produce at the plate at this point. Once again, there’s no tomorrow and both Max Fried and the rest of the Braves will have to be on their A-game if they expect to push San Diego’s backs to the wall as well.
<img alt="Wild Card Series - Atlanta Braves v San Diego Padres - Game 1" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/eIILXncLAoc_dHVzW5A1S4cpskY=/0x0:7111x4741/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73626145/2176012780.0.jpg">
Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images
Snitker wasn’t particularly upset with Smith-Shawver. Rather, he would’ve preferred to have seen his lineup show some life in Game 1. Despite dropping Tuesday night’s NL Wild Card series opener to the San Diego Padres and subsequently finding themselves one loss away from elimination for the second time this week, Atlanta Braves Brian Snitker is still keeping an even keel heading into a win-or-go-home Game 2.
Obviously, everyone is going to second-guess the decision to start AJ Smith-Shawver in this one after AJ gave up three runs in just 1.1 innings of work. However, Snitker explained that he was forced to go with Plan B after Plan A went out of the window following the bullpen’s calamitous collapse during the first game of Monday’s doubleheader. Snitker explained to reporters after the game that Plan A would’ve been to start Grant Holmes for Game 1. Instead, they turned to him to start on Monday evening on short notice and decided to go with AJ Smith-Shawver tonight.
Snitker admitted to the press that “we don’t know any of those guys what we’re going to get when we start them,” which is honestly a fair statement considering how much of a rollercoaster that a guy like Bryce Elder has been on whenever he’s made spot starts this season. Snitker also stuck by his decision to go with Smith-Shawver instead of Ian Anderson — in the pregame press conference, Snitker explained that he didn’t go with Anderson since he hadn’t pitched in the majors in such a long time.
With all of that being said, Snitker felt as if AJ Smith-Shawver wasn’t the main reason why the Braves lost tonight. Padres starter Michael King delivered one of his best performances of the season in Game 1 and Snitker was effusive when it came to praising King for his efforts. However, he continued to state that Atlanta’s offense going quiet was probably the reason why they were unable to pick up the win in Game 1. “You’ve still got to punch back and score. It wasn’t who we started,” said Snitker when he was asked about the decision to start AJ Smith-Shawver “We just couldn’t get anything going against their starter.”
Indeed, it’s pretty hard to win when you strike out 15 times in one game like the Braves did. Game 1 was a rough night indeed but at the same time, Brian Snitker is feeling confident that his team will respond with their backs against the wall. “I feel good,” said Snitker when asked about Atlanta’s chances of winning Game 2. He’s taking a “one day at a time” approach to things as he went on to say that “We don’t have to win two in a row, we’ve just got to win tomorrow. We’re sitting pretty good with Max Fried on the mound for us tomorrow [...] The bullpen had a day off, which is really good, and it will be all hands on deck again tomorrow.”
The Braves were quite clearly not operating at their usual strength when it came to their pitching staff but as you can see, they’ll be pulling out all the stops in order to make sure that their season doesn’t end when Game 2 does. It’s not going to get any easier for Atlanta’s offense as Joe Musgrove has been on a bit of a roll to end the season but Atlanta’s got no choice but to produce at the plate at this point. Once again, there’s no tomorrow and both Max Fried and the rest of the Braves will have to be on their A-game if they expect to push San Diego’s backs to the wall as well.
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