The Braves were in prime position to sweep the Cardinals on the road this weekend and continue their trek to the top of the NL East, but a pair of subpar outings from the bullpen left Atlanta on the wrong end of the series in St. Louis.
Saturday, Atlanta took a 5-4 lead into the 9th inning with Kenley Jansen on the hill looking for his 30th save of the season. He’s still sitting on 29 after allowing two hits and walking in the winning run—his first blown save since June 26th.
Sunday was unfortunately more of the same from the bullpen in the late innings. Trailing 2-0, Dansby Swanson’s 3-run home run in the 7th inning reenergized the Braves dugout, but that didn’t last long. A.J. Minter took the ball in the 8th and promptly gave up a game-tying solo shot to Tommy Edman before Atlanta lost the lead for good on Tyler O’Neil’s 3-run blast.
Despite a vintage Max Scherzer outing up in Queens last night, the Mets lost to the Rockies 1-0 meaning the Braves let an opportunity to cut the division lead down to two slip through their fingers. Instead, they still trail the Mets by three games.
After his outing Saturday, Steak Shapiro, on 92.9 The Game’s The Steakhouse, credited Jansen for having “the right attitude” after the veteran closer in his first season with the Braves said that he wouldn’t lose sleep over the loss with plenty of other opportunities in front of him. Meanwhile, Sandra Golden knows that you can’t argue with success but feels like we’ve seen this type of up-and-down performance from a closer in the recent past.
“Jansen is the Will Smith of last year. He doesn’t have clean innings. You think this is going to be a gymnastics routine out here, but he has converted 29 of 34 saves Braves fans, so you kind of have to take a deep breath here and go ‘alright, it was one game.’
As for Minter, who hadn’t allowed a run in August until last night, Shapiro pointed out that Minter has been one of the top arms in the Braves bullpen this season and doesn’t expect last night to be a lingering issue as the postseason approaches. Overall, the Braves pen has the 6th lowest ERA in baseball at 3.27.
Last season’s postseason run by the bullpen was one for the ages, and it remains to be seen if Tyler Matzek can return to form and what newcomers like Colin McHugh, Jackson Stephens & Raisel Iglesias bring to the table when the lights get bright. Until then, Brian Snitker needs to be able to rely on stalwarts like Jansen and Minter. If the Braves hope to replicate the success of a season ago, they’ll need this weekend to be more of a blip on the radar rather than a trend.