ATLANTA — The Braves had the best starters’ ERA in the National League this season, but Charlie Morton was the one member of their regular rotation capable of having an ugly outing at any time, without warning, and the most likely one to put the team in a first-inning hole.
The 40-year-old pitcher did that Sunday at the most inopportune time for the Braves, who trailed 3-0 before coming to bat in a 4-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals, a defeat that forces Atlanta into a must-win situation in an unprecedented makeup doubleheader Monday against the New York Mets at Truist Park.
Welcome to the madness of an unprecedented postseason situation.
“Just got to embrace it,” said Braves first baseman Matt Olson, in a tone that wasn’t convincing.
But he was right — embrace it, or break things after failing to take advantage of multiple scoring opportunities Sunday and a chance to clinch a wild-card playoff berth. The Braves could have done it with a win Sunday and been on their way to San Diego to face the Padres in a Wild Card Series.
#Braves will start Schwellenbach in Game 1 Monday, Sale would start Game 2 if they lose first game.
— David O’Brien (@DOBrienATL) September 29, 2024
Instead, the Braves went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position Sunday and couldn’t dig their way back from the early deficit. They had runners at first and second with one out in the eighth, after an Olson single and Jorge Soler walk, but Ramón Laureano and Sean Murphy each struck out against sidearmer John Schreiber in a two-run game.
“I thought, two runners on, right guy was up to do it,” said Michael Harris II, who had three of the Braves’ eight hits. “All he needed was his pitch to do it. I guess the pitcher won that battle, but it’s hard to get hits when there’s nine people playing defense against you. Tomorrow we’ve got to come out early and get it.”
The Braves will start rookie standout Spencer Schwellenbach against the Mets’ Tylor Megill in Monday’s first game at 1:10 p.m. Atlanta will have its ace, presumptive Cy Young Award winner Chris Sale, ready to start Game 2 only if Atlanta loses the opener since the Braves would be facing elimination in the second game in that scenario.
It’s a traditional doubleheader, with only a 40-minute pause between games. The Mets have Luis Severino penciled in for Game 2, a must-win situation for them if they don’t win the opener.
The Braves and Mets, each with an 88-72 record, are locked in a three-way tie with the Arizona Diamondbacks (89-73) for the final two NL wild cards. Since Atlanta owns the tiebreaker against the Mets by virtue of its 6-5 head-to-head record, and both teams have a tiebreaker over the Diamondbacks, the Braves and Mets control their own destiny Monday.
The Diamondbacks can only watch from home and hope for a sweep by either team.
Asked if he felt good about his team’s chances with Schwellenbach and Sale ready to pitch Monday, Braves manager Brian Snitker said, “Well, that’s about as good as I can feel. I mean, with Schwelly going the first one and Sale two. And you know what? Ball’s in our court. If we can’t pull one of those off it’s just one of them things.”
The Braves have overcome a litany of injuries to key pitchers and position players all season, and the mere fact they’re playing for a seventh consecutive postseason berth surprised many who wrote them off weeks ago as their injured list continued to expand.
So, the players figure this is one more setback to overcome.
“We feel like we’ve got a mentally strong group here,” Olson said. “Sure, it’s not an ideal situation, but it’s what we’ve got. It’s kind of what we’ve said all year — we’ve got some injuries, nobody cares. We’ve got to play two tomorrow. Like I said, just show up and win.”
The Braves were a combined 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position in the first two games of the Royals series but won those behind superb pitching from starters Max Fried and Reynaldo López, as well as the bullpen, along with homers from catchers Murphy (in a 3-0 win Friday) and Travis d’Arnaud (in a 2-1 walk-off Saturday).
Their only extra-base hit extra-base hit Sunday was a Gio Urshela leadoff homer in the third inning. And while the relievers were strong again, the 4-2 deficit when Morton exited in the fifth inning proved too much.
Morton, who had a 3.11 ERA in his past eight starts before Sunday, has usually been good if he avoids an early big inning, evident by his 5.59 first-inning ERA before Sunday and 5.28 second-inning ERA, compared to his sub-4.00 ERA in each of the next four innings.
But that first-inning ERA jumped to 6.30 in 30 starts after Sunday, when the first three batters he faced went like this: Tommy Pham double, Bobby Witt Jr. single, Michael Massey three-run homer.
He gave up another homer to Hunter Renfroe with two out and nobody on in the fourth inning, pushing the lead to 4-1.
Asked for his thoughts on his outing, Morton said, “I don’t know,” paused a moment, and added, “Yeah, I don’t know.”
But eventually, he broke it down, including this: “I just know I’ve got a two-strike count on Massey and heater at the top of the zone, and he beats me. And then I got a 0-1 change-up to ‘Fro at the bottom of the zone, which he’s not done a great job with this year, and he hits it for a homer. So, you look back and you’re, like, man, that’s it.”
Morton added, “I feel like my best pitching has been since probably the first week of August. I found something in my delivery, I think that helped a lot. It helped my heater play up a little bit. You know, I started throwing harder. My stuff, I feel like, is as good as it was this time last year.”
Then this. A clunker in what might have been his final start for the Braves and possibly his last, period, if Morton decides to retire after the season and the Braves don’t advance deep enough in the playoffs to possibly need him. He got a standing ovation as he walked off the field in the fifth, perhaps from many fans who knew it might be his final start at Truist Park.
“I don’t know if that’s what that was,” Morton said of the applause. “I just remember I’m walking off the field having allowed four runs. I’m getting pulled in the fifth inning in a game that means a lot to everybody here. And, I mean, the fans here have supported me, ever since I came back (to the Braves). People have been really kind to me. People have been really supportive when they see me in public, when they see me at the stadium, people have been very, very kind and supportive. It’s been a really special time here.
“But at the same time, that’s my job. My job is to go out there and to limit runs. And this is obviously a really important game. And for me not to do that and walk off the field, I don’t really expect people to be very enthusiastic about that. … You can be like a really nice dude and a likable person, but you still have to do your job.”
The Braves stranded two runners in the fourth inning when Urshela struck out, and stranded two in the seventh when Ozzie Albies, who’s 4-for-31 since returning from a broken wrist, popped out against lefty Angel Zerpa. Then in the eighth, their best opportunity in the game — two on, one out.
Strikeout, strikeout.
“We had a chance,” Olson said. “Schreiber is a funky arm and made some good pitches. Different angle, not stuff you see every day, and he made some good pitches. I was on second base looking at a lot of them. So, sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap.”
While the other 28 MLB teams have completed the regular season, the Braves and Mets will tee it up in a doubleheader the day before the postseason. If the Braves win Game 1, they’ll have nothing but pride to play for in the nightcap, and Sale would not pitch in that game; he would instead start the best-of-three Wild Card Series opener Tuesday at San Diego.
If the Braves and Mets split the doubleheader, both are in the postseason. The Braves would be the fifth seed and advance to fourth-seeded Padres in San Diego, with all games at the higher seed’s ballpark and no days off in the series.
The Mets, if they split, would be the sixth seed and have to return to Milwaukee, where they just finished playing Sunday, for a Wild Card Series against the third-seeded Brewers. If either the Braves or Mets are swept, that losing team misses the postseason and the Diamondbacks would face the Brewers.
If the Braves don’t win one Monday, it will be a long offseason with a lot of time to think about wasted opportunities.
(Photo of Ozzie Albies: Jason Allen / Associated Press)
