ATLANTA _ The Braves' losing streak reached four games with Tuesday's 8-1 loss to the Cardinals. It dropped them to .500 (38-38) at SunTrust Park. It gave up precious ground in the National League East.
Hey, at least the Braves had seven walk-free innings. Until two came around to hurt them in St. Louis' four-run eighth.
In all, this short stretch will probably be a blip on the radar. September performance doesn't translate to October. Defeating the Phillies this weekend would make these few days negligible, though it could cost the Braves home-field advantage in the NLDS, a privilege they may be better without.
Anibal Sanchez is not only pitching his way into the rotation, there's a case he deserves to be the team's game 1 starter. The veteran made one mistake _ Paul DeJong took him deep in the fourth _ in an otherwise steady night.
The 34-year-old's changeup looked potent. He's generating more movement now than perhaps any other time in his career. A mid-March signee, he's been the team's most reliable pitcher, and as skeptics waited for the drop-off, he's maintained his crispness through the final month.
Sanchez went six innings, striking out nine and walking none. His colleagues had walked 39 hitters in the past five games, so his sharp command of the strike zone was a welcomed change for the Braves and the pace-of-play monikers.
Mike Foltynewicz has the higher ceiling, while Kevin Gausman's been solid since coming over from Baltimore at the trade deadline. But Sanchez is building a case to start game 1. The Braves know what they'll get from him. There's a smaller range of outcome. That matters when managing a bullpen for a best-of-five series.
The ageless wonder rebounded nicely from a five-walk outing in San Francisco last week. His ERA is 3.01, pairing well with his 127 strikeouts. He threw only 89 pitches, though he's exceeded that number in four of his past five outings.
Strangely, the Braves are 3-5 in his past eight starts. He entered the night averaged 3.61 runs of support, the lowest total on the team's staff.
The offense couldn't do much against Austin Gomber. Ronald Acuna launched a solo homer, his 26th of the season, but the team couldn't chain together hits. Freddie Freeman had three hits and Nick Markakis doubled, but they couldn't engineer runs. The Braves stranded 12 runners.
St. Louis tacked on insurance in the eighth against Jonny Venters and Dan Winkler. Matt Carpenter walked and came around to score on DeJong's single. Yadier Moline's single off Sam Freeman, along with Acuna's fielding error, helped the Cardinals build a five-run lead.
The ball slipped under Acuna's glove, rolling deep into the outfield as embarrassment felt evident to everyone in the park. It was perhaps the defining sequence of this homestand, where the team is now 1-4.
Philadelphia rallied from 2-0 hole to defeat the Mets. They trail the Braves by 5.5 games, with an astronomically important four-game series between the teams set to begin at SunTrust Park on Thursday.
