No one knows who will start Game 4 of the National League Championship Series for the Atlanta Braves, not even manager Brian Snitker, who said after the team's 6-5 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday that he'd leave the building and talk things over with his staff.
After Tuesday's loss, the Braves sit with a 2-1 lead in the NLCS. The rotation to this point has been: Max Fried, Ian Anderson, and Charlie Morton. With Game 4 on Wednesday at 8:08, the only thing we know is that Snitker does indeed plan to go with a bullpen game.
"We'll look at the game today and the guys we used and then pair that up with guys we haven't used," Snitker said after confirming he would use his bullpen. "We have good options. We have some really good options to start the game for a couple innings or something, and then a lot of guys that are good to go, that are ready to pitch tomorrow. So we're just going to figure out how we're going to line it up."
Fried pitched 6 innings on Saturday with Anderson only going 3 on Sunday. After a rocky start Tuesday for Morton, Snitker was thrilled he lasted 5 innings.
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"That was huge for us," the Braves manager said. "He kind of seemed to, I don't know, kind of got a second wind, so to speak, and then threw the ball extremely well."
With decisions yet to be made on who will start the game and who will be used as the bullpen traverses the potent Dodgers lineup, Snitker did acknowledge closer Will Smith was up in the bullpen during Game 3 and could have been used.
"I wasn't going to pitch Will more than four outs," said Snitker. "He hasn't done that, we need him the rest of the series, but I did have him up in the right situation, yes."
