Some supporters are upset with the Atlanta Braves for leaving their closer on the bench for the ninth inning.
The Atlanta Braves suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Seattle Mariners Friday night. With a one-run lead in the ninth inning after a pitching duel between Braves starter Max Fried and Mariners righty Bryce Miller, Atlanta turned to A.J. Minter to get the final three outs and begin the road trip with a win. Instead, a Jorge Polanco leadoff single and a Mitch Garver home run gave Seattle a walk-off victory in game one.
And the use of Minter has prompted questions about why Raisel Iglesias, the team’s primary closer, was not chosen to record the final three outs and finish the game.
While manager Brian Snitker did not address it directly following the game, it is widely assumed that Iglesias was unavailable due to his usage, having pitched in the final two games of the previous series against the Cleveland Guardians. And there’s a reason Atlanta didn’t want to employ Iglesias for the third consecutive day: he’s not very good in such situations.
Braves Today went back over 2023’s game logs and identified four times where Iglesias pitched on three consecutive days. And spoiler alert: they’re not pretty. It’s an entirely defensible decision by the coaching staff to go with A.J. Minter, who was in the midst of a nine-outing scoreless streak, over Iglesias on Monday night. Let’s go over it.
July 4th, 2023 vs Cleveland Guardians
The Braves were on the road for the holiday, taking on the Guardians in Cleveland’s Progressive Field. Iglesias, who had thrown a combined 22 pitches in the previous two games (both clean ninth innings with one strikeout each), is called on for the 10th inning with a 5-5 tie.
Here’s how the tenth goes for Iglesias.
With Amed Rosario at second base, an intentional walk of José Ramirez
Ground ball double play by Gabriel Arias
With Amed Rosario at third base, an intentional walk of Andrés Giménez (who takes second base on defensive indifference)
David Fry game-winning single to left field,4 pitches and Iglesias takes the loss after two walks (both intentional) and one hit.
August 9th, 2023 vs Pittsburgh Pirates
The Braves were again on the road, taking on the Pirates in Pittsburgh’s PNC Park. Iglesias, who had thrown a combined 36 pitches in the previous two games (one hit, one walk, two strikeouts and a save), is called on for the 9th inning with a 6-5 lead.
Here’s how the 9th goes for Iglesias:
Trea Turner leadoff home run (404 feet and a “no-doubter” – out in all 30 ballparks)
Alec Bohm single to right field
Bryce Harper single to right field, Bohm advances to second base
J.T. Realmuto strikes out swinging
Nick Castellanos hits into a ground ball double play 24 pitches, Iglesias takes the blown save (his fourth) but would also pick up the win (his 5th) when Eddie Rosario scores Forrest Wall from 2nd base in extras and then Brad Hand pitches a clean bottom of the 10th inning.
Final tally
In the four outings that Iglesias pitched for a third consecutive day in 2023, he finished his four full innings with a loss, a blown save, seven hits allowed (including a homer) and three walks (although two were intentional in extra innings) against only four strikeouts.
It’s not a guarantee that Iglesias, coming off of 27 pitches combined in the previous two days, would have been any more effective last night than Minter – as a reminder, Minter was in the midst of a nine-outing scoreless streak.
It was the right decision, it just didn’t work out this time…but there’s an important reminder here: You need to separate the process used to make the decision from the results of that decision.
In a vacuum, it was the correct decision to rest Iglesias no matter what Minter did in the 9th. Just because it didn’t work out doesn’t mean that this was the wrong call – using the information that MLB teams have, they’ve concluded as an industry that relievers throwing in three consecutive games is a bad idea.
While we probably wouldn’t be talking about this if Minter hadn’t hanged a cutter, Brian Snitke made the perfect decision.
