Grant Holmes dominant again, Braves offense terrible, Brian Snitker (very) frustrated

New York Times

2 days ago

ATLANTA — The spiraling Atlanta Braves wasted another impressive start from Grant Holmes on Tuesday, and manager Brian Snitker sounded as if frustrations had reached a new level, or at least like he needed to share something that was eating at him.
The Los Angeles Angels used a four-run eighth inning against the Atlanta bullpen to win 4-0, handing the Braves their fifth loss in six games and third shutout in five and dropping them to fourth place in the National League East, behind the perpetually rebuilding Miami Marlins.
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The Braves were 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, which isn't unusual for them. What made it notable was when Snitker was asked afterward if it's a mental thing with Atlanta's hitters and he responded by pointing to technology.
Too much of it.
'I'm telling you, this is the mental game,' he said. 'All of it. It's about confidence and feel. I think we probably overwhelm ourselves with mechanics and video and all that kind of stuff. We've made it a really mental game, I think, in the industry.
'They didn't have all this information, they didn't have all the video and whatever, and those guys put up unbelievable numbers and made it to the Hall of Fame. But now we're kind of overanalyzing everything.'
Paralysis by analysis, as it's referred to in sports. Snitker didn't use that terminology, but he didn't have to. He also didn't say who 'they' were, but he didn't have to. It was all the former Braves greats.
Yes, the season has spiraled to that point for the Braves, who are a mediocre team that looks much worse a lot of nights. They have a new hitting coach after firing Kevin Seitzer following his 10th season. That's not working out well, to say the least.
Now, analytics feel like an albatross for the manager. It's bad.
The Braves have lost three of the first four games on this homestand and are 11 1/2 games behind the division-leading Philadelphia Phillies and 9 1/2 games behind the New York Mets. And yes, they are a half-game behind the Marlins.
Repeat: The Braves trail the Marlins.
Atlanta also slipped to ninth in the NL wild-card standings. Analyze that.
Holmes had 10 strikeouts in six scoreless innings Tuesday, after posting a career-high 15 strikeouts three starts ago in 6 1/3 innings of a 10-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies on June 15. In that one, he was charged with two earned runs, including one after he left the game.
And so, he has 25 strikeouts with six hits and two earned runs allowed in 12 1/3 innings of those two starts, and Atlanta lost both. Once again, the bullpen and offense failed him Tuesday, but Holmes handled it with typical aplomb.
👏👏👏#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/MaWIjHEccm
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 2, 2025
'We don't come to the field and expect to not hit or not pitch well,' he said. 'We come to the field and we expect to pitch well and hit well. So it's just the life of baseball. It can be so rewarding and suck so much at the same time. So, it is what it is.'
When the Braves shuffled their rotation plans and had Holmes move up a day to start Tuesday instead of rookie Didier Fuentes, there was immediate speculation that they would start someone else in place of Fuentes.
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Snitker said no; they just wanted to have Holmes pitch on regular rest (four days) rather than have the extra day after the team was off Monday.
Holmes, who spent a decade in the minor leagues with a few organizations before making his MLB debut last summer with the Braves, has improved so rapidly and to such a degree that he has become one of Atlanta's top three starters while Chris Sale is sidelined — and arguably even if Sale wasn't out.
The right-hander has been that good. Holmes' recent statistics compare favorably with those of Spencer Strider in Strider's first season after elbow surgery.
Holmes held the Angels to three hits and three walks, his second scoreless outing in his past three starts. He threw 106 pitches and generated 54 swings, including 27 whiffs, the fourth-highest swing-and-miss total by a Braves pitcher since tracking began in 2008.
Holmes, who also had 25 swings-and-misses in the Colorado game, joined the Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, as the only pitchers in the majors this season to have two starts with at least 25 swings-and-misses.
After opening the season with one relief appearance, then posting a 4.70 ERA in his first seven starts, Holmes has carved a 2.70 ERA in his past 10 starts with 73 strikeouts and 25 walks in 56 2/3 innings. And in his past four, he has a 1.56 ERA with 36 strikeouts and 13 walks in 23 innings. But the punchless Braves are just 6-11 in his starts.
Barring a late change in plans, Fuentes is set to make his first home start Wednesday, after going 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA in his first two starts, which came on the trip last week in Miami and New York (against the Mets).
He just turned 20 and is a year younger than any other major leaguer this season. He had only six minor-league starts above the High-A level — one in Triple A — before being thrust into what was supposed to be a major-league spot start in Miami.
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Then Sale was diagnosed with a fractured rib cage, and Fuentes stayed to make another start in New York, which didn't go well. The Mets feasted on his poorly located pitches for eight hits, six runs and two homers in 3 1/3 innings.
Still, the Braves like what they've seen in his stuff — he throws in the upper 90s and has a good breaking ball — and maturity, if not his command. But given his age and inexperience, his results can't be considered surprising.
The Braves traded for bullpen depth Tuesday, getting Hunter Stratton from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for a minor-league outfielder and cash, and transferred Sale to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man roster spot for Stratton.
Moving Sale from the 15-day to the extended IL was expected, even if perhaps disheartening to optimistic Braves fans who hoped the lefty ace would be back before late August. That wasn't realistic, since he's recovering from a fractured rib cage that happened on a diving fielding play June 18.
The Braves had not given any timetable on Sale, but a fracture was always going to mean at least a month of not throwing while the bones heal (Sale said he has two 'small fractures'). And he will need to rebuild arm strength and stamina and do an injury-rehab stint before he's activated.
So, now we know officially that he'll be out at least until Aug. 19. The Braves can only hope they've gone on an extended surge to be legit playoff contenders before then.
Stratton was optioned to Triple A for the time being.
The 28-year-old righty has a 96 mph fastball as well as a sinker and slider. He posted a 3.58 ERA in 36 appearances as a rookie in 2024 with 33 strikeouts and seven walks in 37 2/3 innings. But this season, Stratton spent most of three months in Triple A, making just three appearances with Pittsburgh and posting a 23.63 ERA with 10 hits and seven runs allowed in 2 2/3 innings.
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In the trade, the Pirates got outfielder Titus Dumitru, 22, a 16th-round draft pick by the Braves in 2024 out of New Mexico State University. He hit .227 with four homers, 17 stolen bases and a .638 OPS in 91 games over two seasons, including 64 games this season at High-A Rome.
Slumping center fielder Michael Harris II returned to the lineup Tuesday after being given weekend games off for a mental break. Harris snapped an 0-for-22 skid when he tripled to lead off the fifth inning, but he was stranded there when Nick Allen followed with a popup and Ronald Acuña Jr. struck out (Acuña was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts).
Money Mike!#InvescoQQQ | @InvescoUS pic.twitter.com/drT27FxRy2
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 2, 2025
After getting behind in the count 3-0 to Matt Olson, Angels starter Tyler Anderson intentionally walked him to bring up Marcell Ozuna, who flied out to end the inning with runners on the corners in a scoreless game, the Braves having failed to score after a leadoff triple.
Harris hit .148 with four extra-base hits, 25 strikeouts and a .426 OPS in 25 games in June. He has not walked since May 18, a career-high stretch of 135 plate appearances without a walk. That's staggering.
He entered Tuesday with the lowest OBP (.238) and OPS (.559) among all MLB qualifiers, though Harris' defensive metrics ranked among NL outfield leaders.
(Photo of Grant Holmes: Edward M. Pio Roda / Getty Images)