Owen Murphy gave the Braves exactly what they needed on a night when the bullpen had already been stretched thin. The offense, though, never showed up to match it.
Atlanta fell 4-1 to the Cardinals on Saturday night at Busch Stadium, a loss that came with the same familiar problem attached: too little production at the plate. The Braves have now dropped the first two games of the series, slipped to 54-40, and saw their National League East lead shrink to two games over the Phillies (53-43) heading into Sunday’s first-half finale.
The numbers tell the story plainly enough. Atlanta has scored just two runs in the first two games of the series and has been held to one run or fewer in consecutive games for the third time this season. After showing some life earlier in July, the bats went quiet again against left-hander Matthew Liberatore, who shut the Braves down over six efficient innings and beat them for the second time in less than two weeks.
"The offense has been inconsistent," manager Walt Weiss said. "June was tough, and we showed some signs of life and had some really good offensive games in July so far. But these last two have been tough."
The game turned fast for López. After giving up two hits in the first inning, he was tagged for a two-out, three-run homer by Lars Nootbaar that put Atlanta in an immediate hole. From there, he steadied himself and kept the Braves within reach.
López went five innings and allowed four runs while continuing to work back toward a full starter’s workload. He threw 85 pitches, matching the five innings he logged against St. Louis less than two weeks earlier, and he said the key is not letting one bad moment linger.
"Regardless of what happens, I think the most important thing in this game is to be able to turn the page," López said through team interpreter Franco García. "Whether you commit an error or something goes wrong, you've got to be able to put it behind you and continue to execute. I think that's something I work really hard on."
That recovery never got much help. Atlanta managed only four hits through Liberatore’s six innings, even with leadoff runners reaching in the fifth and sixth. Austin Riley singled to start the fifth, then Michael Harris II opened the sixth with another hit, but neither chance turned into a threat.
The Braves finally broke through in the seventh when Mauricio Dubón led off with a home run, but it was the only run they could scrape together.
"It's frustrating," Dubón said. "We hit a couple balls hard and didn't get lucky. ...
Sometimes things don't go your way, but you've got to come back and keep executing. We play 162."
Murphy’s night was the bright spot. Recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett before the game after Friday night’s rain-shortened start by Chris Sale taxed the bullpen, the 22-year-old right-hander delivered three scoreless innings in just his second Major League appearance. It was the longest outing of his young career.
He attacked the strike zone and gave Atlanta the kind of length it was looking for.
"Owen Murphy was outstanding," Weiss said. "Pounding the strike zone.
Fastball playing up. Pretty fearless on the mound, attacking the zone."
That kind of effort mattered on a night when the pitching staff was being asked to cover more ground than usual. But even with López settling in after the first inning and Murphy handling the back end, the Braves still couldn’t produce enough offense to make it count.
"We're in first place," Weiss said. "We've played great the first couple months, and it's been tough ever since.
But you've got to look at the cumulative picture. Try to win one tomorrow, get to the break and start another streak coming out of it."
In Other News...
Braves Make Another Late Pitching Change Before Lineup Shuffle
The Braves were still adjusting their plan right up until game time against the Cardinals, with the pitching staff getting another late tweak and the lineup following suit. Atlanta also shuffled its order in a noticeable way, putting Drake Baldwin at the top and giving Brewer Hicklen a start in right field, the kind of move that signals both urgency and a willingness to keep mixing and matching as the night approaches.
Jim Jarvis was back at shortstop, Dominic Smith was slotted into the middle of the order, and the Braves had a few bats with encouraging history against Cardinals starter Dustin May. Austin Riley was among the names carrying that track record, which gives Atlanta at least some reason to feel good about the matchup even with the pregame uncertainty hanging over the card. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Have Only A Couple Real Deadline Answers Behind Chris Sale
With Chris Sale at the front of the rotation, the Braves still have a familiar deadline problem: finding another starter who can pitch near the top of a playoff staff and still fit into a longer window. The market for that kind of arm is thin enough that the discussion keeps circling back to the same two names, Joe Ryan and Logan Webb, both of whom check the control box and both of whom would come with the kind of price that forces a front office to think hard about what it is willing to move.
Ryan offers the cleaner trade path in some ways because of his team control through 2027, but that also comes with a hefty future cost even before any deal is made. Webb is the more established answer, locked in on a five-year extension through 2029, which only underscores how difficult it would be to pry him loose. For Atlanta, the question is not whether either pitcher would help. It is how much of the system the Braves are willing to spend to get one of the few real answers behind Sale. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Just Bet On Another High Upside Arm Fans Know Takes Patience
The Braves kept leaning into a familiar draft formula by taking another arm with real upside but plenty of development ahead. Their latest addition is a tall prep right-hander whose fastball already lives in the low 90s and whose slider gives him a pitch to build around, the kind of profile Atlanta has often been willing to wait on if the long-term ceiling is worth it.
What comes next is the part that usually matters most with this type of pick, because the path is rarely quick or linear. He is expected to start his pro career in the Florida Complex League, and for a club that has shown patience with young pitchers before, the bigger question is how much runway hell need before his stuff and command start pointing toward the middle-rotation future scouts think is in play. [Read more 🡒]