PHILADELPHIA -- During the first couple innings of a 19-4 loss to the Phillies on Thursday night, there was already reason to question how the Braves might alter their injury-depleted rotation over the next few days.
Fueling the conversations was the assumption Cal Quantrill’s brief stint with the Braves may have ended with him allowing nine earned runs and nine hits, including four homers, over just 3 1/3 innings in this series opener against the Phillies.
How unique was this line? The only other Braves pitcher to allow four-plus homers and nine-plus runs over 3 1/3 innings or fewer was John Smoltz against the Reds on June 19, 1994. Smoltz won the National League Cy Young Award two years later. Quantrill was designated for assignment by the Marlins earlier this month.
“He had a tough time making pitches, and they hit everything he threw at them,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.
With their entire Opening Day rotation on the injured list over the past couple months, the Braves have had to try to patch things together with castoffs like Quantrill and Carlos Carrasco, who is still in the organization at the Triple-A level. But Chris Sale’s expected return from the 60-day injured list on Saturday might help stabilize the rotation during the regular season’s final month.
If the Braves part ways with Quantrill after just two starts, they would still have a five-man rotation. It would include Sale, Spencer Strider, Hurston Waldrep, Bryce Elder and Joey Wentz.
With a scheduled off-day between next week’s road series against the Cubs and home series against the Mariners, the Braves could go until Sept. 10 before they would possibly need to have a pitcher start on regular rest. As things currently stand, that would be Sale, who would be making his third start since being activated.
Snitker said after Thursday’s loss that the Braves will likely go with a five-man rotation going forward. As for whether he’ll try to give his starters an extra day of rest whenever possible, he said that will be determined by how each start goes over the next few weeks.
“We're just going to have to piece it together and see how each individual start goes to determine what the plan will be,” Snitker said.
The Braves will have some more flexibility as they will be permitted to add a pitcher once active rosters expand to 28 players on Sept. 1. Nathan Wiles is a 40-man roster member who could be used to make at least one start. Davis Daniel, Nathan Wiles and Carrasco are other options to make a spot start if there’s a desire to give a starter an extra day of rest.
It Wasn’t All Bad: Things looked good for the Braves when they forced Aaron Nola to throw 37 pitches as they scored three runs before the Phillies came to the plate. But their next run didn’t come until Matt Olson hit a solo homer off Nola in the sixth. Olson has hit 15 home runs in 115 at-bats at Citizens Bank Park. That’s one home run approximately every 7.7 at-bats.
Notorious Record: Quantrill could take solace in the fact he surrendered just one of the four homers Kyle Schwarber hit on Thursday. When Schwarber drilled his 49th homer of the season off Wander Suero in the seventh, the Braves became the first team to allow two four-homer games in a season. Eugenio Suárez hit four home runs in a losing cause for the D-backs on April 26.
Other players to hit four homers in a game against the Braves were Gil Hodges (Aug. 31, 1950) and Willie Mays (April 30, 1961).