MIAMI -- The Braves can’t change the fact that injuries have depleted their rotation to a razor-thin level. But they can confidently hope their bullpen will be capable of carrying the load during the postseason.
“The way you get outs from the mound is very different during the postseason, unless you’ve got a staff full of aces,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said.
Well, Weiss is fortunate that he has at least one ace in Chris Sale. But on the days that Sale doesn’t start, the skipper will be relying heavily on a bullpen that once again includes Robert Suarez, who nearly threw a perfect inning in an 8-3 win over the Marlins on Saturday afternoon at loanDepot Park.
Suarez posted a 0.56 ERA in the 31 appearances he made before right elbow discomfort forced him to the injured list near the end of June. He missed three months, but there haven’t been any concerning signs of rust in the two appearances he’s made this week.
The right-handed reliever retired three straight batters after allowing a leadoff triple against the Reds on Wednesday. This latest outing against the Marlins had the chance to be a five-pitch perfect inning. But Otto Lopez extended the inning with a chopper in front of the plate that Suarez grabbed before one-hopping a throw to first baseman Matt Olson.
After a replay review confirmed the safe call, Heriberto Hernández tripled into the left-field corner. So, Suarez allowed one run and two hits over an eight-pitch seventh inning.
Suarez’s four-seam fastball averaged 97.1 mph, down from his season average of 98.7 mph and down from Wednesday’s average of 98.6 mph. The veteran reliever also didn’t get a whiff with any of the six swings he induced on Saturday.