For the second October in a row, an Atlanta Braves pitcher cruised through two innings of Game 3 in the NLDS at Philadelphia, only to collapse in a six-run third inning. It was an injury-weakened Spencer Strider who didn’t make it out the six-run third inning of 9-1 loss in Game 3 last year.
And Bryce Elder suffered a similar fate in Wednesday’s 10-2 Braves defeat at Citizens Bank Park.
Atlanta had debated whether to start Elder, who was terrific in the first half of the season – 7-1 with a 2.45 ERA in his first 17 starts – and earned an All-Star berth. But Elder struggled in the second half with a 5.75 ERA in 14 starts, including a 9.49 ERA in his final three.
The Braves didn’t have any obviously better options on their injury-depleted pitching staff, and didn’t want to use A.J. Minter as an opener because they only have two lefty relievers. Minter is their best in that role, and they didn’t want to throw 20-year-old starter AJ Smith-Shawver into the cauldron of the Philly ballpark after just five MLB starts.
So they went with Elder, and then manager Brian Snitker stayed with him too long. The perfectly located sinkers and sliders that carried Elder in the first half were too often left up in the strike zone in the second half, and that was the case again in the third inning Wednesday.
Elder struck out four of six batters in a perfect first two innings by keeping the ball down and getting hitters to chase.
He missed up in the zone in the third, when Nick Castellanos hit a leadoff homer and Bryce Harper hit a three-run homer. Seemingly a predictable outcome for the lefty slugger who’s been a postseason monster throughout his career against pitchers with better stuff than Elder.
Snitker didn’t have a lefty warming in the bullpen, and when he did go to a reliever – two batters (single and walk) after Harper’s homer, he brought in Michael Tonkin. Another pitcher who was great in the first half for the Braves but struggled for most of the second half and particularly down the stretch.
Tonkin gave up a two-run double to the first batter he faced, J.T. Realmuto, and the Phillies had a 6-1 lead and a sellout crowd that was screaming at the top of its lungs. Before it was over, both Harper and Castellanos would add home runs. Harper off lefty Brad Hand – a Phillies reliever a year ago – and Castellanos as part of a back-to-back jacks feat to start the eighth inning off Smith-Shawver.
While Elder & Co. got rocked, Phillies veteran Aaron Nola rolled, limiting the power-laden Braves lineup to two runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings, with one walk and nine strikeouts.
And now, the Braves will turn to Spencer Strider, who pitched well in a Game 1 loss, in hopes he can help prevent a similar fate as last year, when the Phillies finished off the Braves in four games before the series could return to Atlanta for a Game 5.
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