Remember when I asked in the headline of the Pirates series recap if the Atlanta Braves had finally found that spark at the plate that they’d been looking for? As it turned out, they probably haven’t found that spark because we ended up watching them fall into yet another extended period of struggling as the first 18 innings of this series saw the Braves get completely clamped at the plate by the Cardinals.
Also, a trend that has been killing Atlanta’s pitching staff lately was on full display throughout
this series. It’s honestly fitting that the Cardinals were the ones who exposed it since it’s the type of situation that historically makes sense for the Cardinals to do damage in but it’s also something that the Braves have been dealing with for far too long so far this season. Let’s see if you pick up on it throughout this piece, yourself. Time to take a look back at the weekend that was for Atlanta.
Friday, July 10
Cardinals 2, Braves 1
We got our requisite rain delay for a matchup between these two clubs and unfortunately for the Braves, that meant that what was shaping up to be yet another solid start from Chris Sale got wiped out. With that being said, the bullpen did a decent enough job of keeping the Cardinals mostly quiet at the plate and the trio of Sale, Victor Mederos and Didier Fuentes went six innings with four hits, two walks, nine strikeouts and just one run allowed so it was effectively another full Sale start.
We unfortunately got another hallmark of a 2026 Chris Sale start, which is that the run support was non-existent. Once the nearly three-hour rain delay came to a close, the Braves scratched across a run thanks to Austin Riley shooting one up the middle to plate Mike Yastrzemski (who took a trip to the IL on Saturday) and that was all that Atlanta would get on the night.
St. Louis, meanwhile, picked up a game-tying run in the sixth after Didier Fuentes saw three-straight Cardinals reach base safely with one out (with Jordan Walker’s RBI single tying the game) and then Jimmy Crooks got a two-strike hanger from Danny Young in the eighth inning in order to hit his third-career homer that ended up being the game-winner. Another long night at the ballpark ended in defeat for Atlanta.
Saturday, July 11
Cardinals 4, Braves 1
For the second night in a row, the Braves just could not get anything going at the plate and their success in Pittsburgh seemed like a distant memory once this game was over. Reynaldo López got to two strikes and two outs with two men on against Lars Nootbaar in the first inning but ended up paying the price for leaving a curveball in the zone as Nootbaar crushed it for a three-run dinger to make it 3-0 Cardinals. He once again got to two strikes and two outs in the fourth inning and this time, Blaze Jordan sent one up the middle to make it 4-0 Cardinals.
The Braves had another shot against the struggling Matthew Liberatore and for the second time, they made him look like a Cy Young candidate. Liberatore ended up tossing six scoreless innings where he only gave up four hits and a walk with six strikeouts, to boot. Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II were the only two batters to make it into scoring position against Liberatore in this one and it came in the first and sixth inning. Outside of that, the Braves continued to be befuddled by a guy who the rest of baseball seems to have figured out.
Mauricio Dubón continued to be the most consistent hitter at the plate for the Braves since their current month-and-a-half-long downturn in form as he cracked a dinger that ensured that the Braves wouldn’t get shut out. Eli White doubled later on in the frame with one out but the Braves got nothing else going from that point forward and Atlanta had no choice but to accept yet another series loss. Michael Harris II had a crazy day in the field, though, so there’s that.
Sunday, July 12
Braves 4, Cardinals 3
With two strikes and two outs and a man on second base in the first inning, Alec Burleson somehow got solid contact on a hanging sinker from Danny Young that was out of the zone. Once the ball landed, Mauricio Dubón was chasing after it and the Cardinals were up by a run to start things off. Fortunately, Atlanta responded pretty quickly and scored in the second inning after Dustin May uncorked a wild pitch with the bases loaded. They could’ve had more in that frame but at that point, beggars couldn’t be choosers as far as the Braves were concerned and they just needed to take the run and try for more later on.
More ended up arriving in the fourth inning in dramatic fashion, as Austin Riley made it home on an aggressive send from third base coach Tommy Watkins on a single from Drake Baldwin to give the Braves the lead and their first game with multiple runs scored in this series. In fact, they even added on and made it a two-run lead in the sixth after Jim Jarvis and Brewer Hicklen went back-to-back with doubles (just like we all predicted back in February, right?) to make it 3-1.
Things got serious again once the Cardinals came to the plate in their half of the sixth inning. Didier Fuentes very nearly got out of a JR Ritchie-manufactured jam but (and I hope you’re sitting down for this) with two strikes and two outs in the inning, José Fermín got a hold of a fastball and looped it into center for a game-tying RBI single. It’d be unbelievable if it hadn’t happened all weekend and for the past few weeks to the Atlanta Braves.
Eventually the ninth inning rolled around and it was still a 3-3 game. Ozzie Albies got something going with a one-out double and then Michael Harris II kept the inning alive after he just about got hit by a pitch that was upheld on replay. The ruling infuriated Cardinals manager Oli Marmol, who got ejected for arguing the ruling and then I’d imagine that he was just as irate as the crowd was once he saw what happened in the next at-bat. With two strikes and two outs on the board, something finally went Atlanta’s way. Mauricio Dubón seemingly grounded into what should’ve been an inning-ending out but Masyn Winn uncorked a shambolic throw to first that extended the inning and, more importantly, allowed Ozzie Albies to score from third and give the Braves the lead.
Raisel Iglesias made his first appearance since Wednesday and sat down the Cardinals in order so that the Braves could salvage the series and at least ensure that Atlanta would be on top of the NL East heading into the All-Star break.
The Cardinals scored nine runs in this series. Six of those runs came in situations where the Braves were pitching with two strikes in the count and two outs on the board and seven of them came in situations with two strikes in the count. This series likely looks a lot different if the Braves had finished off those situations and while it would be easy to simply chalk it up to Cardinal Devil Magic, it actually sums up how the Braves have fared in that particular situation for the past month or so.
From June 1 heading into Sunday’s action, opposing hitters have slashed .188/.295/.325 with a .283 wOBA in two-strike two-out situations against the Atlanta Braves. That batting average is the eighth-worst number in all of baseball, the OBP is the worst in the National League, the slugging percentage is the fifth-worst in all of baseball and the wOBA mark is also the worst in the National League during that span. That is ghastly.
Sure, the offense has had its fair share of problems (and they certainly deserve much of the blame for how this series went) but it’s tough for the Braves to play their way out of a rough patch when they’re constantly tripping up in a situation that is seemingly the most advantageous moment in any given inning for a pitching staff. It’s frustrating and explains a lot for how some of these games have gotten away from Atlanta in recent times.
If any team in baseball needs the break, though, it’s the Braves. While they may not have the most players on the IL, there are enough big names and impact players on there that they badly need this time to recover. The bullpen has been sketchy in recent times so Walt Weiss should benefit from having a full-rested bullpen for the first time in what feels like ages. The games themselves have just felt like a slog lately, so this just feels like a solid time for Atlanta to regroup.
They’re still in first place but now they’ve got two teams breathing down their neck at the top of the NL East and the Wild Card race figures to be incredibly fierce should the Braves fall from the top of the divisional standings. Atlanta’s got to get things going again and hopefully they’ll hit the ground running once they’re back in action for Friday. For now, it’s time for the squad to take this time to retreat and figure something out for the second half of the season. We’ll see what happens.
