First-Place Teams Don't Do This

Best bullpen in baseball.

Seven runs. One inning. Zero strikeouts.

I've been at 63% on the Braves as the best team in baseball since June ended. After Thursday night at Truist Park? I'm at 52%. And that 52% is generous.

Here's what happened.

The Braves led 5-3 after both starters got shelled in the first inning. The bullpens took over. The Cardinals' pen — five arms nobody talks about — threw 7.1 scoreless innings. The Braves' pen — the best in baseball by ERA — coughed up seven runs in the seventh.

That's not bad luck. That's what happens when your bullpen has been pitching four innings a night since May, covering for a rotation held together with duct tape and hope since Spencer Strider went on the sixty-day IL.

Tyler Kinley. Dylan Lee. Ian Hamilton. Nathan Church's two-run homer erased the lead. Then it got worse. Seven runs before the inning ended. Zero strikeouts in the entire frame.

Ellis wrote yesterday that the Braves need two mid-rotation arms before July 30. Tonight, the bullpen co-signed his column. In flames.

I'm 97% sure Alex Anthopoulos makes a move before the deadline.

I'm 45% sure it matters.

The Phillies are right there. Three games back and closing. Austin Riley is hitting .208. The offense scored five runs in the first inning and zero in the last eight.

This isn't just one game.

Tell me I'm wrong.