BOSTON -- The second-guessing began when Rafael Montero was asked to protect a two-run lead in the eighth inning of Saturday night’s game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park. The explanation was provided as Braves manager Brian Snitker said three of his top relievers were unavailable during what became a tough 7-6 loss.
“We were staying away from a bunch of guys and we were just hoping to get through it somehow,” Snitker said.
With closer Raisel Iglesias, top setup man Daysbel Hernández and top lefty Dylan Lee unavailable unless absolutely necessary, Pierce Johnson was asked to clean up Montero’s eighth-inning mess. He surrendered a game-tying two-run single and then allowed Rafael Devers to lead off the bottom of the ninth with a walk-off homer.
“I hung a curveball to their best hitter,” Johnson said. “Nobody is trying to do that.”
Devers’ homer ended what had the makings of being a good night for the Braves. Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna homered in back-to-back fashion in the first inning, and rookie catcher Drake Baldwin further bruised Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito with a two-run homer in the third. This provided cushion for Grant Holmes, who limited his damage to two runs over six innings.
It looked like the Braves were going to move two games above .500 for the first time this year, until it didn’t. This was day 16 of a 17-day stretch of games. The Braves haven’t won or lost a game by more than three runs since May 5. So their primary relievers have been frequently used over these past two weeks.
“Everybody's done a great job through this long stretch,” Johnson said. “You know, people have thrown multiple days in a row. Dylan has been used like a workhorse. Iggy and Daysbel too.”
The Braves weren’t going to ask Iglesias to pitch a third straight day after notching saves on Thursday and Friday. Hernández threw 23 pitches on Friday. He hasn’t been used on consecutive days since April 9. As for Lee, it wasn’t revealed why he wasn’t available. The lefty threw eight pitches on Monday, and 13 on both Tuesday and Thursday.
“We had a couple of games where we got [Hernández] hot and didn’t use him,” Snitker said. “We look at that whole thing as far as for the long term. We’ve been playing so many close games, those guys have been getting up a lot.”
So the Braves handed a four-run seventh-inning lead to Aaron Bummer, whose expected statistics haven’t mirrored his actual stats since he joined Atlanta last year. The lefty surrendered a Ceddanne Rafaela double that raced past the third-base bag and a Devers opposite-field single.
Alex Verdugo’s ill-advised late throw to the plate allowed Devers to reach second on the play and jog home on Alex Bregman’s double off Enyel De Los Santos.
De Los Santos recovered to retire the next two batters. But when the eighth inning began the Braves handed the ball to Montero, who has at least shown some signs of encouragement since the Astros essentially gave him to Atlanta in April.
Montero entered the day having surrendered a .467 OPS over his past seven appearances. But he had only been asked to protect a slim lead in the eighth inning or later twice during this stretch. He protected a one-run ninth-inning lead in a May 6 win over the Reds, and he allowed an eighth-inning run while trying to protect a two-run lead against the Pirates on May 10.
Each of the three balls put in play against Montero on Saturday had an exit velocity of 102 mph or higher. So it seems safe to assume he won’t be comfortably given any high-leverage situations any time soon.
“There's going to be days and spurts and things like that where it doesn't happen,” Snitker said. “You want to get on a roll and you want everybody to be perfect, but they can't be.”