The Atlanta Braves are a franchise that hopes to win a championship each year at the end of the playoffs. This season, though, they'll be lucky just to get there.
Atlanta has swooned in July, losing seven of their last eight games and clinging for dear life to a postseason spot. As things stand entering play Monday, the Braves hold a half-game edge on the New York Mets for the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League.
The pitching staff carried the Braves for most of the first half, but they're going through a rough patch at the moment. Starters Max Fried and Reynaldo López are nursing injuries, while the bullpen imploded over the weekend in the series loss to the Colorado Rockies.
Given their recent struggles, the Braves can hardly afford to lose any relief pitchers at the moment. But for the immediate future, they'll have to weather the loss of one of their most important relievers.
The Braves announced on Monday that lefty relief pitcher A.J. Minter was being placed on the 15-day injured list with hip inflammation. In a corresponding move, fellow lefty Dylan Lee was recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett.
The left hip injury is the same thing that caused Minter to miss the entire month of June, limiting him to just 34.1 innings pitched this year. But the lefty has been excellent of late, allowing just three earned runs in 13 innings since the start of July.
Minter also has a solid 2.62 ERA on the whole this season, and has been the Braves' go-to lefty in late-inning matchup situations.
Fortunately for the Braves, Lee is having a strong season at the big-league level as well. The 30-year-old has posted a 2.00 ERA in 35 appearances this season, though he has seldom been used in high-leverage spots.
Moving forward without Minter will be difficult for a bullpen that has already been light on bodies. But it would behoove the Braves' highly-touted offense to start helping their pitching staff. Atlanta has scored just 96 runs in the second half, tied for ninth in the NL.
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