Shaky bullpen costs the Braves yet again against Phillies

If the lineup has been the primary culprit for the Braves early season struggles, a paper thin bullpen is a close second. On Tuesday, both were there to remind Braves Country this team just isn’t well constructed.

Offensively, following a seven run performance on Tuesday against Zack Wheeler and company, the Braves couldn’t scratch a single run across against Taijuan Walker, who posted a 7.10 ERA over 83.2 innings last season. That turned the game into a battle of the bullpens, and while Atlanta’s bats finally woke up over the final few innings, the top guys in the bullpen couldn’t hold things down for a second night in a row.

After taking a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the sixth, Bryce Harper put the Phillies back on top with a laser over the right-center field wall. Dylan Lee missed with a 95 MPH fastball, leaving it right over the heart of the plate, a pitch that rarely gets missed with a bat like Harper’s in the box.

However, the Braves would respond in the bottom half of the inning with a home run of their own. Austin Riley, who failed to bring in a run not once but twice earlier in the game with the bases loaded, made up for it a bit with a towering 417 foot blast to left field.

Daysbel Hernandez would do his job in the 8th to keep the game tied, but for the second time already this season, Raisel Iglesias surrendered a game-winning home run in a tie game, this time to Trea Turner, who took a hanging slider just over the left field wall in the ninth inning.

The Braves would threaten in their last chance, putting runners on the corners with two outs against Jose Alvarado, but a Sean Murphy strikeout dashed their hopes of winning back-to-back games for the first time all season.

The loss certainly can’t all be put on the relief core. The Braves offense has to take advantage of their opportunities when Taijuan Walker is on the bump, but this is a club that’s had a lead late in five games, and they’ve blown three of those games.

That’s a problem, and it’s one that could have been easily prevented this offseason had they properly replaced A.J. Minter and Joe Jimenez. Alex Anthopoulos chose to go the cheap route, and his team is paying the price.