ATLANTA — One day after the Atlanta Braves placed All-Star pitcher Reynaldo López on the 15-day injured list, Michael Harris II began a rehab assignment Tuesday with Triple-A Gwinnett in Memphis.
In different ways, both could be positive developments for the Braves, who certainly could use some after losing their past three games, including two entirely listless losses at home over the weekend against the anonymous Miami Marlins and a 10-0 thrashing from the Milwaukee Brewers in a Tuesday night series opener at Truist Park.
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It was the second consecutive shutout for the Braves after not being blanked in their previous 231 home games, MLB’s third-longest such streak since 1900.
The Braves have been outscored 20-0 in a 24-inning span since the third inning of Saturday’s 4-3 loss, tied for their third-longest scoreless drought in the past 35 seasons. In the past two games, they totaled three extra-base hits and went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. All of which exacerbated Tuesday’s poor start by Bryce Elder, who gave up eight hits and seven runs in 3 2/3 innings.
The Brewers scored 10 runs, something the Braves did regularly in 2023 — they had 20 double-digit scoring games last season — but haven’t done since the second game of the season, 110 games ago. They went from leading the majors in scoring last season to having the seventh-fewest runs this season.
#Braves got routed 10-0 by Milwaukee for their second consecutive shutout at home, after not being shut out in the previous 231 home games. They've not scored in 24 consecutive innings since the third inning Saturday. They've lost 3 in a row to the Marlins and Brewers.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) August 7, 2024
“That’s the toughest part, probably,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We feel like we’re a lot better offensive team than what we’ve showed all year, quite honestly. Even with losing guys (to injuries). We still feel the guys, the manpower we have, we’re capable of scoring more runs than we have. … We’ve got 50 (games) left, I’m still hopeful we’re going to get on that sustained run.”
Elder made his second start in a week against the Brewers and got rocked, giving up six runs in the first three innings including a pair of two-run homers by Willy Adames. Elder was optioned to Triple A last week after limiting the Brewers to five hits and one run in 6 1/3 innings but was recalled to replace López.
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“Hopefully, I’ll never have to do it again,” Elder said of the back-and-forth shuttle from Triple A that he’s been on all season, “but only pitching well will (take care) of that. When you have nights like this, it sucks. But I pitched good last week and I got sent back down. I pitched bad this week and got sent back down.”
Elder, who has a 6.52 ERA in 10 starts, has more MLB starts (three) since the All-Star break than Atlanta ace Chris Sale (two), a fact that frustrates many Braves fans.
But the team continues to play the long game and give extra rest to its main starters in hopes of having the All-Star trio — Sale, López and Max Fried — healthy and fresh down the stretch and into the postseason. Assuming they make the postseason.
The Braves have an entirely mediocre 42-46 record since their 18-6 start, and their NL wild-card lead is gone. They slipped a game behind the Padres and a half-game behind Arizona in the wild-card standings Tuesday. They are 1 1/2 games up on the Mets for the final wild-card spot.
Before the All-Star break, Snitker and general manager/president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said the Braves would have their top starters go on regular rest more in the second half. So far, hasn’t happened.
To the contrary, Elder started Tuesday instead of Sale, who’ll have six days’ rest when he pitches Wednesday. Four days is “regular” rest, though the Braves have far more starts on at least 5-6 days rest than four. Sale, López and Fried have made two starts each on regular rest this season, and Charlie Morton just one.
“The main thing is just Sale getting the extra time, that’s it,” Snitker said of the decision to start Elder on Tuesday. “And we felt good with the way Bryce pitched against them last time. That’s kind of an easy call, really. It didn’t go so good tonight, obviously. But I think it’s just something we’re going to have to do with (Sale) to get him to the finish line. When it doesn’t work, obviously it’s glaring.”
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Snitker said the plan still is to start having starters go more frequently on regular rest.
“We’re approaching that time, and we’ll see what happens when they have to do that,” he said, pointing out that the Braves began a stretch Tuesday in which they play 26 games in 27 days.
If not for Sale, López and Fried, plus a strong bullpen, the Braves with their erratic offense would be on the outside looking in as far as the playoff picture.
Harris moving closer to a return is an absolute major plus for the Braves, who’ve been without the speedy center fielder since he landed on the IL on June 15 for a Grade 2 hamstring strain. He was 1-for-4 with a single and a walk as DH in his first rehab game Tuesday.
Jarred Kelenic excelled initially as the center-field replacement but has struggled in recent weeks and lost the leadoff job, now being handled by trade-deadline acquisition Jorge Soler. So far, Soler hasn’t been the spark the Braves hoped he’d be atop the lineup, but he’ll stay there when Harris returns.
Harris is eligible to return from the 60-day IL on Aug. 14, the third game of a four-game series at San Francisco, on a three-city, 10-game trip that starts at Colorado on Friday and ends in Anaheim. The Braves plan to activate him during the trip barring setbacks in his rehab.
“He’s going to have to run around in the outfield, but hopefully (activating Harris around Aug. 14) is the case,” Snitker said.
The plan was for Harris to DH for a couple of games with Gwinnett before beginning to play in the outfield. He was not cleared to begin full sprinting until the weekend, and Harris ran the bases before a game against the Marlins without difficulty, the final step before he was given the green light to begin playing.
Meanwhile, López was back on the field Tuesday afternoon at Truist Park, playing catch for the first time since he left his July 28 start against the Mets in New York after three scoreless innings and flew back to Atlanta that night for an MRI. The MRI was clean, the Braves said, showing no soft-tissue damage or anything else.
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But they took a cautious route and put him on the IL on Monday with what was termed right forearm inflammation.
The bottom line on why this could be a positive development: The situation gave the Braves a good opportunity to shut down López for over a week and have him take a few weeks between starts (his rehab assignment was retroactive to Aug. 2).
The converted reliever has pitched 104 2/3 innings in 19 starts, nearly 40 innings more than López pitched in any season since 2019, the last time he was a full-time starter in a normal season.
He’s surpassed all reasonable expectations in the first season of a three-year, $30 million contract, and the Braves want to do whatever they can to ensure he’s healthy and effective for the stretch drive and postseason.
López’s 2.06 ERA is not merely the MLB leader among pitchers with at least 100 innings, it’s a half-run better than the next best. But after going 7-2 with a 1.71 ERA, .209 opponents’ average and .593 opponents’ OPS in his first 16 starts, López has shown signs of fatigue in his past three starts, going 0-2 with a 4.20 ERA, .350 opponents’ average and .912 opponents’ OPS.
López didn’t throw at all for eight days between that abbreviated start in New York and Tuesday when he played catch in the outfield before batting practice. He’ll ramp back up in the next week and the Braves will see if they want him to make a rehab start before returning to the rotation on or soon after the 15-day IL period.
“Hopefully, we get him to the end of (15 days) and he’s ready to go,” Snitker said. “But I think it can (benefit him), with him coming back in the first year starting. I hated that he experienced what he did because we hated losing him. But I think probably in the long run, it could be something that ends up being a good thing for him.”
The Braves can only hope that’s the case. Because they need multiple good things to happen if they are to make a run at the NL East-leading Phillies, or even return to the top of the wild-card standings.
(Photo of Bryce Elder: David J. Griffin / Associated Press)
David O'Brien is a senior writer covering the Atlanta Braves for The Athletic. He previously covered the Braves for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and covered the Marlins for eight seasons, including the 1997 World Series championship. He is a two-time winner of the NSMA Georgia Sportswriter of the Year award. Follow David on Twitter @DOBrienATL
