SAN DIEGO — If they had it to do over again, you have to think the Atlanta Braves would’ve added at least one elite setup man — one still in his prime — during the offseason. No matter what team officials have said to the contrary.
The Braves lost their top two setup relievers in Joe Jiménez (knee surgery) and A.J. Minter (free agency) and added only aging minor-league free agents and non-roster invitees to the bullpen, confident that incumbents could step into higher-leverage roles and the newcomers could fill the gaps.
That plan looked shaky at best after Opening Day, when newcomer Héctor Neris and returner Aaron Bummer — now the Braves’ top lefty setup man — gave up a lead and the game in a four-run seventh inning that lifted the San Diego Padres to a 7-4 win at sold-out Petco Park.
That bad inning spoiled a pair of go-ahead homers from Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley and a solid season debut by Chris Sale, and left manager Brian Snitker to answer multiple questions about a bullpen that’s still a work in progress, to put it kindly.
“It was a tough inning in all respects, really,” Snitker said of the four-run seventh, which got rolling with Neris giving up a 405-foot homer on a full-count, 93.5 mph fastball to pinch hitter Gavin Sheets. It was the first batter faced by the 35-year-old right-hander, who signed in early March and pitched in three Grapefruit League games, two coming in the past week.
“Oh, no, he’s ready,” Snitker said of Neris’ truncated spring. “I think he kind of felt like he gave into that leadoff hitter. I kind of like where he was if we’re going to use him, because depending on whenever we use him, we’re going to ask that question. He’s been through this, and I think where we were in their lineup was a good match for him.”
After the Sheets homer, nine-hole hitter Elias Díaz singled before Fernando Tatis Jr. singled through the right side, where Albies would’ve been if he weren’t covering second with pinch runner Jason Heyward (yes, J-Hey) running on the play.
“Nothing different, just attack the hitter,” Neris said when asked if he might’ve changed his pitch selection or approach. “Can’t control the situation after (the homer). Try to throw the ball on the plate, try to make him swing. That’s it.”
Neris was replaced by Bummer, who threw a wild pitch before a sacrifice fly by Luis Arraez, an RBI double by Manny Machado and, after intentionally walking Xander Bogaerts, another sacrifice fly by Jackson Merrill. That one was caught by right fielder Jarred Kelenic, who made a three-bounce throw to the plate.
In a span of seven batters, Neris and Bummer gave up four runs, and the Braves’ one-run lead became a three-run deficit.
Sale allowed two runs in the first inning but only one in the next four and left with a 4-3 lead. Dylan Lee pitched a perfect sixth inning, continuing the impressive work the lefty did last season and all spring. It all unraveled in the seventh, but Sale, the reigning NL Triple Crown and Cy Young Award winner, said he has full confidence in the bullpen.
“I think it’s just the first game of the season, man, honestly,” Sale said. “Anything can happen. This is a long season. I’ve said it a lot that I don’t put too much weight in guys’ major-league debuts or first games of the season, because there’s just kind of a lot going on. You know, check the book, Neris has been a bad man for a long time. So I’ll take him in any situation, any inning, any game.”
Snitker cited positives, including Sale’s outing. The left-hander needed 29 pitches to get through the first inning but only 55 in the next four. The manager also noted the big hits, including Albies’ two-run, two-out homer in the third, Riley’s two-out homer that regained a 4-3 lead in the fourth and would-be homers by Albies in the fourth and rookie catcher Drake Baldwin in the fifth.
Left fielder Brandon Lockridge made a running, leaping catch to take away a three-run homer from Albies with two out in the fourth, which would’ve opened a 7-3 lead if its trajectory had not been interrupted. Baldwin hit one nearly 400 feet to straightaway center in the fifth that looked like it would’ve landed just beyond the fence, but was brought back by Merrill, a terrific second-year player on both sides of the ball.
“I didn’t feel bad because, you know, it saved us a run or whatever rally it would have started,” said the 21-year-old Merrill. “But I did go up to Drake. I was like, ‘Sorry, man, your debut.’ I can’t understand how that feels.”
It was a different Albies than the one the Padres saw in the Wild Card Series in October, when the switch hitter could bat only right-handed because of soreness in the left wrist he fractured in July, causing him to miss two months. Albies returned for the last 10 games of the season but struggled at the plate in those, then went 1-for-8 with four strikeouts in the Padres’ two-game playoff sweep in San Diego.
Albies showed with his first home run that the strength is back in the left wrist.
“I thought the at-bats all day were really good off a tough starter,” Snitker said after the Braves got four runs in 2 2/3 innings against Padres right-hander Michael King, who walked four and gave up three hits, including the Albies homer for a 3-2 lead.
But about that bullpen …
Snitker kept going back to it being an ongoing project, saying he likes the pieces that he’s trying to make fit together. The Braves open with seven games in as many days including three more in San Diego before a three-game series at Dodger Stadium. It’s a rough ride to start with, even if the bullpen were fully established and organized.
“It’s kind of like the process we’re going to go through as we get stretched out. We got seven (games) in a row and everybody’s going to have to play a part,” Snitker said. “It didn’t work today, and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
In 2024, the Braves ranked third in the majors with a 3.32 bullpen ERA, ahead of the fourth-ranked Dodgers (3.53). Atlanta relievers started the new season by giving up four earned runs in three innings.
“You look at our team from last year, and it was a pillar of this team,” Sale said of the bullpen. “It was clearly one of our strengths. We got a lot of those guys back, and the new additions are really good. So, again, today was a tough one. But it’s baseball, it’s going to happen.
“I think I can speak for everybody in this clubhouse right now that we have not only all the confidence in the world in this team, but specifically that bullpen.”
Braves fans and team officials hope he’s right.
(Top photo of Chris Sale: Denis Poroy / Imagn Images)
