Bryce Elder's Career Day Goes To Waste As Braves Lose Again Late

The Atlanta Braves got exactly what they needed for their starting pitcher and more, yet they squandered another potential win late in the ballgame

Elder arguably had the best game of his career, and the Braves couldn't pull out a win | Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

Bryce Elder put on a career day for the Atlanta Braves in what was ultimately a losing effort. He had a career-high 12 strikeouts in the game while giving the Braves eight innings of one-run ball while allowing no walks. He threw 107 pitches, throwing 69 of them for strikes.

It was the first time he gave the Braves eight innings of work since he pitched a complete game shutout on Sept. 26, 2022.

Heading into the ninth inning of Saturday's game against the Giants, he was in line for the win. The Braves were leading 2-1. They got a career game from him and were going to also get a rare win with fewer than four runs scored. However, Pierce Johnson blew his save, giving up a two-run home run to Matt Chapman. The Giants had a 9.6% win probability up until that one swing. It was that close of a guarantee to snap the losing streak.

A major missed opportunity along with Elder's career day is that he overcame his typical first-inning woes. In four of his last six starts in the Majors heading into Sunday, the opponents have put up at least one run in the first inning against the right-hander. 

It brings them back to the same issue time and time again. This team can't sync up for long enough to win a game. When something goes right, something else has to go wrong.

The Braves have now lost six games in a row and have lost their last six straight series. All six games of the losing streak were winnable to some extent. Either the offense didn't get the job done or the bullpen flopped late.

Sunday, they'll have a chance to avoid a sweep again. Last time, they were close and they blew it late. Maybe this time around they'll salvage something. First pitch is set for 4:05 p.m.