Morton, Braves' rotation proving themselves in Strider's absence

ATLANTA -- Charlie Morton is too old. Chris Sale is too brittle and Reynaldo López isn’t a starter. Each of these opinions has aged like sour milk as the Braves' rotation has done more than just persevere without Spencer Strider.

This depleted Braves rotation has allowed just two earned runs over 36 2/3 innings during the past five games. Morton contributed to this impressive stretch by constructing seven scoreless innings in a 4-2 loss to the Guardians in 11 innings on Saturday night at Truist Park.

“It’s been fun watching the guys have success because it’s not going to be like this all season,” Morton said. “I think the biggest thing is we have to keep pulling for each other and when it’s our time we’ve got to do the best we can.”

There will be ebbs and flows throughout every big league season, but this has certainly been a good time for the rotation to shine. Despite Strider making just one healthy start before undergoing season-ending elbow surgery, Atlanta’s starters rank 10th among all MLB teams with a 3.73 ERA.

This includes one start made by Allan Winans and two more from Darius Vines. They both filled Strider’s spot until Bryce Elder came up at the start of this week to fill the spot on a more permanent basis.

Morton, Sale, López, Elder and Max Fried now stand as the rotation moving forward. They have produced a 3.38 ERA over the 22 starts they have combined to make this year. They have a 1.92 ERA over the past 10 games.

“These guys have turned the corner and they’re pitching really, really well,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said.

Few have pitched as well as Braves setup man Joe Jiménez has this year. He entered Saturday having allowed just four hits and one run over 10 innings, but he had to deal with misfortune as the Guardians scored a pair of eighth-inning runs with three hits, none of which came off the bats faster than 31.1 mph.

Atlanta tallied two runs in the bottom half of the inning, and then squandered a bases-loaded, none out threat in the 10th.

The Braves missed their chance to match the 1997 and 2000 teams for the best 25-game start in franchise history. But they still have an 18-7 record, good enough for a .720 winning percentage, which leads the Majors.

A talented and deep lineup has certainly aided the hot start. But much of the recent credit can be given to the starters, whose ability to go deeper in games has relieved some of the early strain felt by the bullpen.

“We put a lot of pressure on the bullpen during those early weeks of the season,” Sale said. “They were picking up some bulk there. Over what, the last week or 10 days, it’s been nice to pick up the bulk. It’s what we’re here to do.”

The Braves have now seen their starters complete at least seven innings in six different games this year. The Phillies were the only team that entered Saturday with more (eight) such starts thus far.

Sale entered Saturday as one of five MLB pitchers who had completed seven-plus innings at least three times this year. The only pitcher to do so four times was the Giants’ Logan Webb.

“I’ve been in rotations where we’ve lost a guy and you can’t really dwell on it or think about it,” Morton said. “You just have to pick up your end of the deal. But I think we’re talented as a staff and we have some guys who have some really good stuff.”

López is the only MLB pitcher who has allowed two earned runs or less over at least 25 innings. Fried brushed off a few rough starts on Tuesday, when he needed just 92 pitches to complete a three-hit shutout of the Marlins. Sale has completed seven innings in three straight starts. Elder tossed 6 2/3 scoreless innings in his season debut on Monday. The 40-year-old Morton has pitched into the sixth inning in each of his first five starts.

How significantly Strider is missed will be realized once the season is complete. But for now, the Braves are persevering much like they did last year, when they spent most of the season without both Fried and Kyle Wright.

“We’ve got a lot of baseball to go,” Morton said. “I don’t think you can really see the impact Strider’s absence has had after a few weeks. We’ll look back at the end of the year and see if we picked up the slack.”