Symptoms of Skid on Full Display Again as Braves Lose Another Series

The Atlanta Braves' rally fell short on Sunday against the San Francisco Giants. They avoided being shut out in back-to-back games, but Chris Sale lacked run support once again, and another series was lost.

It's become a recurring theme for the left-hander. On average, he's getting 3.5 runs of support, but it's heavily inflated by two games where the Braves combined for 19 runs. Remove those two games, and that average craters to 1.5 runs scored per game.

During that same span, Sale has a 2.04 ERA. He hasn't allowed more than three runs in any of those starts. He's done his job, but the bats have not been able to return the favor.

While there is frustration around not backing the ace, it's a symptom of a greater issue. With each month, the Braves' offense has taken a turn. This month has seen the most drastic drop-off. They're batting .215 with a .608 OPS as a team.

On the pitching side, things haven't been much better outside of Sale. The rotation has a 5.86 ERA this month. and it bumps up to 6.56 when Sale is taken out of the equation.

Even when the run support arrives for a starting pitcher not named Chris Sale, there is a chance that the support isn't enough to pick up the win.

The tailspin has caught up with them in the standings. Meanwhile, the Phillies have been a wagon since Don Mattingly took over for Rob Thomson and became the interim manager. Over the course of the month, they have gained six and a half games on the Braves. The cushion for first place is now just three games.

For now, they're taking the mindset of this being a long season, and early leads were never going to indicate anything.

"I don't care what the lead is. I could care less," manager Walt Weiss said. "We had a big lead early. There were several months to go. I'm not worried about anybody else but ourselves right now."

Injuries haven't helped either. Missing key stars for weeks at a time can be seen as a factored. That being said, even when some injured players have been active, they have been as productive as what is expected from them.

Ronald Acuña Jr. and Spencer Strider both struggled between injuries. Drake Baldwin hasn't look the same since he returned from the injured list. Ha-Seong Kim hasn't been able to find his footing at all.

The Braves went from just two series losses on June 7 to losing five of their last six series played since. They're overall record since they swept the Pirates is 4-12.

Any blame on the weather can go out the window at this point. Something isn't clicking to the point where it's a concern. It's starting to look more like 2025 all over again. Maybe the rotation doesn't have it quite to that extent, but the team is in a bad spot.

A nice perk of the strong start is that they've been able to absorb the blow to an extent. They can still correct course and stay ahead of their archrival. Figuring how to course correct would be more helpful now rather than later.

Waiting to get healthy shouldn't be the option. Let the reinforcement from the injury front be a perk. Get help from the farm. Look for external options. When the expectation has become winning the World Series, anything should be on the table.

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