The Braves scored 15 runs over three games against the Padres over the most recent weekend. They still lost the series because they kicked the ball around the field and the bullpen, usually reliable, faltered. The Braves tightened their defense at Milwaukee but lost the series opener because they couldn’t hit. They got good pitching to win the middle game but lost the finale Wednesday as their bullpen again went bust.
The Braves have 124 games left on their schedule, but “it’s still early” can quickly become urgent until eventually it’s too late. The walk-off win against the Red Sox on May 11 wasn’t a catalyst. The Braves can’t keep talking about how they got hot last year in July on the way to the World Series as evidence they’ll do it again. First, they have to put together one sustained stretch of winning this year.
Mainly, that means the Braves need to start generating more offense. Now that the starting pitching has stabilized, that’s the one area on which they haven’t been very good all season. The Braves rank last among MLB teams in strikeout percentage, 25th in batting average and 20th in on-base percentage (all rankings before Thursday’s games).
