After another brutal outing on Thursday, the Atlanta Braves made the decision to change Raisel Iglesias’ role. Instead of being the clear-cut closer, the Braves left the door open to use someone else in the ninth inning of a close game. They called on Pierce Johnson to protect a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning, and, well, that backfired. Matt Chapman clobbered a walk-off two-run shot, handing Atlanta its sixth straight defeat, several of which have come in excruciatingly painful fashion.
It felt as if this game could’ve been one that began a major turnaround. Brian Snitker got himself ejected from a game for the first time all season, and the Braves immediately responded by hitting a game-tying home run. They took a 2-1 lead in the sixth, and got the best start of Bryce Elder’s career. All they needed was one inning to lock down a much-needed win, but instead, their first test without Iglesias in the closer’s role failed spectacularly.
Unfortunately, there isn’t much the Braves could’ve done differently.
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Demoting Raisel Iglesias couldn’t have aged much worse for the Braves
Removing Iglesias from the closer role, considering his struggles this season, made sense. I mean, he has a 6.75 ERA in 25 appearances, has given up seven home runs in just 24 innings of work, and has already blown four saves and taken five losses. He’s not the only reason the Braves are where they are, but he’s contributed in a big way to their struggles.
The problem that came with that move was that the Braves didn’t have a viable replacement. Johnson has pitched well this season, and has been solid in a Braves uniform, but has just 16 career saves, three of which have come with Atlanta. It’s a lot to ask of a guy who has made more appearances in low-leverage situations than medium or high-leverage spots to take over as a closer, especially given he pitched less than 24 hours prior and was on the road.
This falls on Alex Anthopoulos, at the end of the day. Nobody could’ve predicted a collapse of this magnitude from Iglesias, but Anthopoulos can be blamed for his lack of urgency to upgrade a bullpen that needed at least one more late-game arm. A game like this one shows why.
It’s hard to see where the Braves go from here. Iglesias probably needs a couple of good outings before the Braves consider using him as the closer again, but they don’t have a reliable replacement. This puts Brian Snitker in a really tough spot that he’s going to have to navigate well enough if the Braves want to remain in the postseason hunt.
