LockedOn Braves POSTCAST: Atlanta Braves take weekend series from Pittsburgh Pirates

LockedOn Braves POSTCAST: Atlanta Braves take weekend series from Pittsburgh Pirates

you are a locked on Braves postcast part of locked on Sports Atlanta your team every day hello and welcome into the Braves postcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day Grant mcau alongside Jake masterani after what was I would say a profitable weekend for the Braves and that they picked up a series win but do we have more questions to ask about the Braves offense being able to find the consistency it’s been looking for and follow up on some of the trends that we’ve seen as the month of June closes down those are things we’ll talk about on this edition of the show and of course we got to get you set for the upcoming Series against the San Francisco Giants which starts on Tuesday with a little bit of intrigue after that as the Philadelphia Phillies we’ll be rolling into town maybe we’ll even touch on that before we get started make sure you hit that Thumbs Up Button subscribe to lockon sports Atlanta here on YouTube subscribe to lock on Braves wherever you get your podcast today’s episode brought to you by booking.com booking the right stay can make you a fan of any City even your Rivals check out booking.com for your stay today uh Jake I don’t know if the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Atlanta Braves necessarily had the most current rivalry of all but it was good for Atlanta in the sense that they won a Series did the Braves it was also good to you know even things up after dropping two out of three up in Pittsburgh last month but there are I think some questions that are fair to ask coming out of this series about the Braves offense the Braves lineup and their ability to find the consistency they simly been looking for for a couple of months certainly we’ll take the series wins we’ve seen them drop these types of series here over the last you know couple of months now but you do come out of it I think with still some you know very big questions about this Braves offense but you know again you do get a series win you’re back home you know obviously that’s feels great uh but it still you know you don’t have that great feeling as you might have coming out of the series just because of the lack of offense yeah and I think you kind of wanted to get at least a little bit greedy maybe try to sweep this series and get yourself set up for you know an under 500 opponent that the Pirates were but I mean you could tell that there’s some competition Factor there maybe they’re a little bit more competitive than they’ve been in recent years and certainly some excitement that was had on Saturday which we can talk about a little bit in the match up between Max freed and Paul SK but on Sunday rookie Spencer schellenbach he ran into a couple of two-run homers in the fifth inning and as it turned out that was all the offense that the Pirates would need on this day you know swell andok as much as I think you and I both like the potential here some of the abilities that this kid has flashed thus far I think it’s important to note that this is a guy that came into the season with fewer than 100 innings in his professional career there’s a certain amount of on the- job training that’s happening for Spencer swellen boach and it’s happening at the major league level there is and there is a ton of like like like you said we both are very encouraged by what we’ve seen from him but it is a guy again like you said doesn’t have a lot of professional Innings under his belt and not even that in we talk about all the time in college he was a relief pitcher so doesn’t even have a lot of experience as a starter all that considered I think you have to be impressed with what you’ve seen from him now he’s ran into some issues that really have been in one inning and in some of his starts where things have kind of just gotten away from him but even at that Grant if he’s your fifth starter and he’s giving you five innings of four earned or less I mean for the most part I think you can live with that if you’re getting something from your offense this is offense just isn’t giving you much right now so uh but again you know for a f starter I think most days you’ll be able to to come away okay with that start but certainly a lot to like was Spencer schellenbach again learning on the job as you said I’ve been very impressed with what we’ve seen from him yeah and Spencer swellen boach didn’t let the game get completely out of hand I recognize that the four runs were what the Pirates needed to win this game but as you pointed out and as we’ve talked about so many times on this show and probably so many other places on your shows and mine you this is an offense that you wouldn’t think that they would be out of it with a couple of two-run homers against them you’d think maybe maybe they’re going to be able to tap into a little bit of their own power and we’ve seen some of that in the month of June but we didn’t see enough of it in the pirate series outside of one inning that happened on Friday night I mean Atlanta’s bats piled up six runs in the first three Innings of the series in told it was an Austin Riley solo Homer in the second inning of game one the five run inning that followed up and then they scored four runs over the final 24 Innings of the series Jake and that I think is where those questions start to creep in about this group some of the consistency that they’re searching for some guys who quite frankly you know need to get going and you know we’re we’re at that point now where you’re at the halfway point of the Season we’re not talking about the small sample sizes anymore it’s not about being a prisoner of the moment or recency bias or any of those things I mean there are some statistical Trends still following this Braves Club around that are not ideal when you consider either a where they were a year ago and what their expectation was coming into this year or B which is probably more to the point what they need in order to be a consistently competitive club night in and night out here in 2024 that’s an issue at this point I mean I know me and you both or at least I know I did I don’t want to speak for you when saw what was happening the first week or two you know I said you know give it some time they’ll come around we’ll get to the summer months and things will come around and we’ve seen some signs of that here or there but it it you know to your point it’s not that consistency that we’re used to seeing and as you said you had the five run Inning on Friday and and that was great but then you don’t follow that up with with anything really the next two games I mean on Saturday and I know it was a great pitcher duel Paulk is really good you had a chance to knock him out of that game early I mean you had plenty of chances in that game and unfortunate double play for Marcelo Zuna on a hard hit ball but you had chances in that game early to get to Paul schemes before he really kind of settled in and they just they can’t seem to find that that clutch hit consistently and not not even necessarily a hit going on Sunday I mean you had first and third one out late in the game and couldn’t even just punch AC a run across in that seventh inning to creep a little bit closer so so they just don’t have that that situational hitting right now to to be able to just tack on some runs here or there they get back in some of these games that they fall behind it’s like they’re waiting on that two three-run Homer and those just aren’t coming as frequently so it makes it kind of frustrating it makes it hard for this offense to really score with any type of consistency and it’s just again not an issue but we any of us thought would’ be talking about at this point of the Season no certainly not for this long and and not for a an extended period of time really at all when you consider that the staff or the the overall lineup and the talent that you’re bringing back is capable of so much more not just what they showed a year ago but I mean a lot of these guys with track records is not just a bunch of one-year wonders who somehow figured out you know some way to suddenly be competitive or suddenly be good there are some guys that have been going through it for the better part of the season and that haven’t been able to turn things around now we have seen a couple of highlights in recent weeks I mean the play of Jared Kellick really over the last month and particularly the last two weeks and jumping into the leadoff spot that’s been I I think definitely a good sign for the Braves a great sign for Jared Kellick and Austin Riley has been absolutely tattoing the ball here excuse me here of late and that’s something that you needed to see because he had gone nearly two months without getting himself on track and now it seems like his season is course corrected but whether or not it can happen for the a Al the Matt olens at least finding a nice long run of consistency Shawn Murphy and Travis darno have had their ups and downs Shawn obviously missed a lot of time you’re without Micha Harris the injury to aunia goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway I mean there are reasons you know for where where the Braves are and why they’re there but you just I think continue to look for you know the kinds of encouraging signs that we were seeing here in June that that can find a way to continue because if they fall back into another long stretch of not really being able to perform against some teams that they should quite frankly be able to win those series and they’re asking an awful lot of the pitching which they have been all season long I tell you that whole long story Jake to ask you this question you have to kind of wonder where the Braves are going to be not only at the end of this home stand but as they roll into the All-Star break and try to assess what they need in the second half I mean some of the needs seem pretty obvious don’t they but others I don’t know it’s a little bit harder to tell exactly what they must do in order to turn this thing around to find those answers and that’s what Alex and doblon the staff you know have to figure out here and and what type of player because I I think they have to go get some players like say I think that’s pretty obvious but what type of player are you going after to get because this is a lineup That is built on Slug It is built to destroy the baseball and they’re still doing that you can go look at all the the metrics out there they’re still doing that they’re just not getting rewarded as often so when you’re looking at what needs to be upgraded what type of player are you going to go after because there are some holes at the bottom of this lineup there you know there’s no doubt you know we you’re out with Ronald Coan Jr Michael Harris is out for a while you spent time this year without Azie ales without Sean R without Austin rally and as you said that all kind of goes into some of the offensive struggles but it doesn’t really you know it doesn’t explain it all and just how poorly they’ve been but they’ve got to figure some things out to have some more consistency you know top to bottom in this lineup so as you mentioned you kind of had this this stretch here maybe the next couple of weeks as we get into the month of July yes we’re already into July starting tomorrow you got to figure out what who can get it done that you have internally what do you have internally and then where can you go externally to make some upgrades because it feels pretty obvious that Alex is going to go out and make at least a couple of moves to try to help get this offense going and not to turn it into a discussion about you know every other race and every other team in baseball but you look at that NL Wild guard standings within five games you have I believe it’s eight teams fighting for a playoff spot after the Braves and Padres there’s a lot that those teams have to decide and that’s going to affect what kind of buying there is to be done now putting all of that aside and putting aside the disappointment of Sunday I will say that Saturday’s game was a lot of fun you know in terms of the matchup that you were going to see Max freed and Paul SK they were able to pretty much matched themselves up with six Innings of one- run ball a piece the Braves prevailed in 10 Innings love seeing Adam Duval be involved in that win certainly as well and we can touch on that a little bit more lately so it’s not to be all doom and gloom and stuck on Sunday but there just are those questions about the Braves offense even after a series win because you go back to right before this series got started what you needed to erase very quickly was at one- nothing loss to the Chicago White sock who are not a team that’s typically winning a lot of one to nothing games if you catch my drift so the Braves were able to do that on Friday sew away the series with that win on Saturday but Sunday a little bit of a step backwards for the Braves we’ll talk a little bit more about that we will of course uh get you set up for the San Francisco Giant series which will get started on Tuesday as well as the Braves postcast rolls on summer travel is heating up especially travel for baseball games so it’s time to explore the those US cities you have always secretly wanted to know more about yes we’re talking about your rival cities with hotels bed and breakfast vacation rentals Resorts and so much more on booking.com you might just find yourself the perfect stay even in your baseball rival City from hotels that Overlook the stadiums to family friend friendly resorts booking.com has so many choices across the US for your summer travel this MLB season the right stay can make you a fan of any US city even your Rivals book today on booking.com on the site or find the booking.com app I love sports and I love them so much that I never want them to stop but as the playoffs wind down we get fewer games and the sports aren’t sportsing like we all want them to but if FanDuel let’s just keep the sports going whenever we want all I have to do is open up the app and dream up bets anytime and I’m in that I’m in the mood and this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long head on over to fanduel.com lockon and start making the most out of your summer FanDuel is the official sport sports betting partner of Major League Baseball well Jake it’s not just about getting in the line score and box score of one game let’s talk about the last couple of days I think we covered Sunday quite succinctly we were looking forward to the max freed and Paul SCH matchup I think on a lot of levels it delivered it may not be the classic You Know Jack Morris and JN Smoltz from game seven of a World Series or that kind of thing but I think we got a very good performance from Max freed quite obviously who really only ran into trouble in one inning but did what he continues to do which is minimize that damage and on the flip side of that we got to see Paul SK who as you mentioned the Braves had on the ropes a couple of times find his way out of those troubles and show that big stuff and that strikeout ability a pretty fun little matchup and all well that ends well for the Braves because they did Prevail in Extra Innings what did you think of Saturday’s contest yeah it was fun I mean sometimes you get these pitchers matchups and it ends up just being a shootout doesn’t really pan out the way that we think it’s going to go and in this one I mean at the end of the day they both went six Innings only gave up one run but I think if you asked both pitchers they’d probably say they didn’t have their best stuff in this one Max Reed allowed six hits three walks we’re not used to seeing you know that level of of inconsistency with control or command for Max freed Paul skes himself like I said he gave up six hits and two walks and had a lot of traffic early in the game Braves had Bases Loaded like I said but weren’t able to to Really break through with a big hit there so credit to him getting the double play getting strikeouts when he needed to both of these guys to get out of some jams but uh yeah I mean at the at the like I said at the end of the day they both six Innings one run I think that speaks to you how good both of these guys are that again I don’t I don’t think either one would say they really had their best stuff and they were still able to kind of navigate through it and keep e each of their teams in the game fortunately for the Braves they were able to get that last of bad big play in the top of the 10th there and then Adam the ball as you mentioned able to come through with that hit that he he very much needed yeah I want to get to that in just a second and just kind of putting a bow on the Braves against Paul SK Marcel Ozuna scalded a couple of baseballs they both got turned into double plays so sometimes even if you’re Paul skes with his kind of ability it’s better to be lucky than good because that was the case it got him out of some trouble got some of that traffic off the base paths and Ozuna you know even though he’s had such a great season I’m not about to throw a butt however you know it’s been a little bit harder for him even to get rewarded by some of the hard hit contact of late that ball against the White Sox also jumps out still hitting the ball hard still hitting it consistently not finding quite the same results that he was but you can’t argue with his results all season long and you touched on as well the 10th inning little bit of excitement there as it looked like the Pirates might go ahead as the pitch by De Bell Hernandez got away but the play at the plate the quick replay review that showed that the tag was there in time to erase that run get the Braves up there with a chance to win it and you know there are some guys that have gone through it this year I don’t know if anybody is a poster child more so for it than Adam Duval whose struggles against right-handers are well documented but he’s gotten the job done against lefties but overall just to find a good moment kind of a a place to be or an opportunity to just give something for this team and maybe give something for himself to get going again great to see him come through with that game wining hit yeah that’s huge for Adam nval I mean look I’ve talked about it in nauseum on on my podcast it’s the struggles of Adam noal but you know if Ron lano’s healthy is is he in the game I mean I think you’re you’re at that point but he’s obviously you know out a little bit right now but for Deval to come up in that spot you know great guy great Clubhouse you know guy that everybody talks about uh that he is so everybody’s certainly rooting for him and the Great Moments that he’s provided for Braves fans but it’s it’s been a struggle uh so for him to be able to come up with that big hit and give the Braves a win you know hopefully that kind of sparked something for him to get him going like he is more than anybody he has he has suffered from you know slug just not being there this year he has the widest gap between actual Slug and expected slug this season so there’s obviously been a lot of bad luck in there for Adam newal there’s also been a lot of baded bats and there’s well especially here as as of late and it’s it’s more noticeable when the rest of the lineup isn’t doing what you expect them to do as well I mean if Adam nal’s batting sixth seventh eth in your lineup and he’s struggling like this and everybody else is performing to their level you probably notice it but you’re probably not as upset about it h but it’s just where the offense is so again hopefully it’s a big moment came back you know had a hit on Sunday as well unfortunately didn’t kind of strike out looking in a big situation in that seventh inning but again we’re looking for any signs to get Adam dval going again great guy every every body wants to see him succeed yeah yeah absolutely and you know I brought this up on my show from the diamond on Sunday as well I mean if you have the rest of the lineup clicking when somebody’s struggling you’re not going to notice it as much I think that extends more so perhaps to Orlando Aria who has become a bit of a lightning rod on the offensive side but it’s hard to argue with what he’s done in the field for this club this year but you know does that change the Braves perspective on trying to find upgrades on the infield and perhaps at shortstop with trades I think it’s a fair question to ask at this point and of course we’ll all find out the aners in about 30 days but you also brought up Ramon laurano who we discussed on the show on Friday might he start getting some of these abats and L of Adam Duval and then all of a sudden he’s dealing with a back issue with laurano so we haven’t seen him in quite a few days as well but we’ll see if the Braves can finally get something close to what I would consider a healthy team with the guys that they need to get out there to give Brian Snider some choices and give the opportunity to maybe give a day of rest here and there for somebody that’s really going through it and really struggling the way that Adam Duval has but a good thing to see on Saturday and hopefully there’ll be more of that we talked about the max free paulski match up with six Innings of one run ball from freed in the 2-1 win of course he didn’t factor in that decision Spencer swach meanwhile on Sunday know five innings four runs coming on the two home run seven strikeouts for him couple of walks I mean again there’s a lot to like about him but you know it’s hard to forget that this is a lot of really on the job training and I know I’ve talked to you know a lot of baseball people over the years and managers and Executives alike and there’s just kind of that belief that in until a young pitcher gets about 30 35 starts at the big league level you really don’t know what you have just yet and I think that Spencer schellenbach has shown you know that there is potential for something special in there but he’s still going to have some days like this where he learns to navigate that lineup as the case may be the second and really the third time through and he has so many pitches I mean you would think he has the ability to be able to do that I don’t think that’s necessarily going to be an issue going forward for him but you know something he’s talking about something we talk about on here is just that ability to I think it’s really just better sequencing and knowing how to locate pitches in certain counts I know we talked about that about for his previous start just not able to locate where he wanted to in two strike counts but you know he has the pitches he has the Arsenal to be able to get through a lineup a couple of times it’s just again it’s learning it’s it’s on the job it’s we’ve discussed it it’s just not a lot of experience at the professional level not a lot of experience at the college level either uh but again I think that just stands out even more how good that he has been at times and the stuff that you’ve seen from I I really like all the pitches that Spencer schellenbach has and the Arsenal that he’s able to throw and it’s the location I mean it’s the one thing you look at for young pitchers are they able to come up and locate that’s certainly not the problem for Spencer schwellenbach again he has that deep Arsenal and he’s able to command it so again I think the next step for him is just learning how to to sequence those pitches better and to locate them better in certain counts and I think he going to be really good for the Braves yeah and this is again just a young pitcher kind of finding his ways unfortunately O’Neal Cruz who’s a young player with a lot of power really jumped all over one to get that scoring started for the pirates with his two-run Homer that was 117 miles an hour off the bat I mean it’s the old joke from I say skip carry or whoever else goes that balls out of every Park including Yellowstone that was absolutely crushed Rowdy to Les meanwhile after a walk was able to tack on and that I feel like is kind of if you want to really Circle one of the mistakes for him the walk then the Homer just set up the for a little bit more and it’s an offense that will take all the help it can get most certainly to Les who had been terrible in the first couple of months has finally found his footing here in the month of June as well Atlanta’s lineup meanwhile though and unfortunately this has been a little bit of a story here again as we close out June only six hits in this one 0 for five with runners in scoring position you touched on that earlier seven men left on base and two double plays grounded into I know one of them scored the Braves first run of the day but you’d like to be seeing these guys get a little bit more in those situations not trying to point the finger at Austin Riley because he’s done more than enough here lately he’s been doing his part but overall the Braves offense has not been able to find that timely hitting and if that were able to turn around just a little bit it would start to give these pitchers including on this day a rookie like Spencer schwellenbach maybe just a little bit more breathing room because it feels like the margin for error for Braves pitching has been pretty thin here over the last couple of months yeah we talked about it if this offense was just League average I mean and and again something I never thought we’d be asking for for uh coming into the season but that’s the case I mean they’ve been a bottom 10 offense for almost you know over two months now if they were just average with the pitching that we’ve gotten you know we’d be right there with the Phillies I think in the NL East so again I still want to believe they can get there but we’re at the point now I need to see it over long stretches felt like we were kind of getting there and then you had the series in St Louis had a couple of of games there they struggle the game in Chicago a tough one you can’t get a run and then last two games in this Pittsburgh series so it’s just they’re not able to stack it up consistently and for me it just comes down again as I started off talking about some of that situational hitting and I know Orlando AR has been struggling and you know he contributed some in this game but the spot in the seventh inning you just got to put the put the bat on the ball there and get a run just get one run you don’t have to get the big two three run Homer every time put the bat on the ball and try to get a run in when you have those opportunities and they just haven’t seen them be able to do that enough this year and certainly easier said than done but with the talent we’re talking about here there’s just a higher level of expectation not only from the you know outside looking in but also inside that Clubhouse they expect it to be a lot better than it has been we’ll talk a little bit more about what the weekend was put a bow on that and look ahead to the series and the rest of the home stand that’s coming up it’s first the Giants then it will be the Philadelphia Phillies rolling into truest Park we’ll get to that next as the bra postcast continues game time is now an authorized ticket Marketplace of Major League Baseball which makes Mak getting tickets even faster and easier prices on the game time app actually go down as it gets Clos to first pitch and with killer last minute deals all in prices views from your seat and their low price guarantee game time takes the guess work out of buying MLB tickets and has great last minute deals on all kinds of things Not Just Sports but concerts comedy theater and much more you can save up to 60% off there take the guest work out of buying tickets in general with Game Time download the game time app create your account use the code locked on MLB you’ll get $20 off your first purchase just create an account and redeem the code locked on MLB for that $220 off in the game time app so download that today game time last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed well Jake let’s uh talk just one more moment about what has been going on with this Braves offense then I promise you and everyone else will turn the page at least for today Atlanta and this came from Mark Bowman of mlb.com today already matched its 2023 total for scoring two runs or less in a game that’s a stat that I didn’t really realize needed to be tracked but it is one that we do track because we count everything in baseball and it certainly underscores the underperformance of 2024 in a year ago 24 times the Braves scored two or fewer runs they’ve already done that in half the time this year as we reach the halfway point of the Season just another mark this year that the Braves offense is making that you don’t want to see and it’s just it’s crazy because everything we talked about last year they were breaking an offensive record and now they’re they’re Breaking Bad offensive records ones that you don’t want to be breaking and look offense is down League wide we know that but for this group in particular even with the injuries and the guys they’ve lost I I would not have predicted them being you know a bottom 10 offense at least after the first two or three weeks of the season that’s what they’ve been nobody would have seen that coming and again if we just got a little bit more offense in some of these games you get three runs in a lot of these games probably leads to a handful more wins yeah all all I heard there was Breaking Bad records so that’s not good Breaking Bad the TV show actually quite good very entertaining if uh if we’re being honest but as you look at what the braids been doing here they’re trying to figure out a way to get this whole thing turned around they did grab a series win over the Pirates I don’t want that to get lost in the shuffle here but just in looking at the way the last couple of games went clearly there’s some offensive questions that need to be answered coming up though three games against the San Francisco Giants struggling sub 500 Club it’s going to be another one of those series Jake that you like to refer to as one where you need to take care of business certainly need to and look I’ll take the series wins I I don’t care if we have to win some of these games two to one three to2 again we’ve talked about it maybe it’s just a mindset that we need to to change where we were used to this offense being what carried this team and led to wins but maybe it does just need to be the pitching going forward and like I said maybe that’s part of the what Alex has to figure out as we get towards the deadline and how he wants to build this team maybe you just build it around pitching in defense but either way if that’s a recipe for success to win games I’m fine and they have the pitching to be able to do that but still it would be more entertaining and a lot more fun if we could see this offense get back to what we know they’re capable of doing and what they’ve been able to do in the past and again hopefully we’ll we’ll hope once more that it is this series that we see that begin to take place yeah a lot of Hope has been involved in the planning it seems like or at least the overall consumption of the Brave season this year and there is a lot of baseball out to be played which is not to say that they won’t figure some of these things out and some of it would and could and should improve AJ Mentor meanwhile he will be back with Atlanta soon it looks like he pitched another rehab assignment game uh in Gwinette on Sunday dville Hernandez has already been optioned out that would seem to point to the return of AJ Minter that’s not necessarily going to ignite the Braves offense but Jay good to get one of their key relievers back in there as the bullpen continues to be a strength the pitching staff continues to be a strength by and large and AJ Mentor is typically going to we found in the middle of all those things for the Braves he’s been one of the most valuable relievers for about five six years now yeah it’d be great to have AJ Mentor back I think it I think it’s speaks to the work of the bullpen that I don’t really know that you noticed all that much that AJ mure has been out over the last couple of weeks because the bullpen has been pretty solid without them but certainly getting AJ Mentor back getting a healthy AJ Mentor back is only going to just help this group be even better give them another Lefty option I know bummer he had a clean ining on Sunday but he’s kind of had some hiccups over the last week or so so be good again just to have another Lefty op I Know M can get him out from from both sides but that’ll be great for for Brian Snicker and the options that he has down there so glad to have AJ mback looking forward to that yeah it’ be good to have him back in there and look in this home stand it’s gonna be hard not to focus on that Philly series that’s coming up but you know winning the one against the Giants first is going to be key Phillies have an eight-game lead over the Braves as of Sunday’s action they’re also without two of their biggest stars as both Bryce Harper and K schwarber landed on the injured list will not play against the Braves in the upcoming Series this next weekend but that happens after the Braves and Giants conclude their business it’s going to be raldo Lopez Chris sa and Charlie Morton against San Francisco it’ll be Hayden Birdsong Jordan Hickson Logan web scheduled to get the ball for San Francisco game one on Tuesday we’ll see Lopez who six and2 with a 170 erra against Birdsong with no record and a 579 erra for Ronaldo Lopez just continuing to do what he’s done would suit the Braves just fine it would also set them up for what you hope would be a winnable game against a yet unproven young righty you would hope so again you never know what this offense but we pretty much at this point know what we’re getting from Ronaldo Lopez and he just been fantastic all year long I mean you expect five six Innings of two earned or less I mean that’s what he’s basically giving you every time that he’s gone out so looking forward to seeing Ronaldo get out there and I love after every time he pitches he then becomes the again the new uh erra leader in the National League so hopefully that that continues after his next start yeah and it’s just been something that’s been one of the most pleasant surprises that you will find has been what Ronaldo Lopez is doing for the Braves every sixth day let’s make that part of the plan for him it seems the Braves are pretty much tied to that bird song Meanwhile 22-year-old will be on the mound for the San Francisco Giants who are trying to figure a lot of things out this year they signed and acquired a lot of different players who have not really been able to factor in their success and we’ll see you know who’s able to to step up by the time the end of the year comes along as they were hoping to kind of make a run of things especially after getting Blake Snell who’s on the Shelf signing Matt Chapman getting uh Jorge Solair a big import from Korea as well it’s also done for the season it’s just kind of been that kind of year Jake for the San Francisco Giants so if I may be so bold as to say the Braves would like to just continue their miseries for three more games certainly would love to see that again it’s a you love to see teams that go for it like the Giants but you know this is the dangers of it sometimes it doesn’t work out injuri is a real thing you know jungho Leu that did pick up I mean he got off to a good start of the season but you know now is out with an injury but yeah hopefully the Braves can continue that and get some good vibes going on their own side if they had their own miseries offensively this year well they’ll look to have the Good Vibes of Ronaldo Lopez going on Tuesday in game one against Hayden Birdsong it is a 721 pitch first to three against the Braves and the Giants that’s going to bring us to the end of this edition of the Braves postcast as we close out a weekend Series win over the p pittsbur Pirates make sure you subscribe to lockon sports Atlanta on YouTube give us those likes and those comments share the show with a friend help us grow the channel and subscribe to locked on Braves wherever you get your podcast that’s going to be it for this edition of the show we look forward to catching you again this week for Jake motti I’m Grant mccaulay until next time so long everyone

The Atlanta Braves finished off their three-game set with the Pittsburgh Pirates in disappointing fashion on Sunday, but still took two-of-three in the series to open a long home stand at Truist Park.

Grant McAuley and Jake Mastroianni of LockedOn Braves discuss the excitement of Saturday’s walk-off win in extra innings, the pitching duel between Max Fried and Paul Skenes, plus the troubling trends for Atlanta’s offense and a preview of the upcoming series against the San Francisco Giants which begins on Tuesday.

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