Spencer Schwellenbach struggles in Braves’ loss

ATLANTA — The Braves’ bid for a seventh straight National League East title essentially died in Philadelphia last weekend. Now they can only hope to prove resilient enough to at least earn a playoff spot via the Wild Card race during this injury-ravaged season.

A rough stretch introduced another cruel twist on Saturday, when Whit Merrifield entered the clubhouse with a protective boot and revealed he fractured his left foot on Friday night. Things got worse for the Braves when Spencer Schwellenbach endured one of the worst starts of his young career in a 9-5 loss to the Blue Jays on Saturday night at Truist Park.

“I’m proud of how these guys have continued to play and fight, regardless of the guys we’ve lost,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “We’re still staying relevant and playing for something.”

As the Braves were preparing to lose for the fifth time in their past nine games, the Mets were nearing completion of their ninth straight win. The Mets now have a one-game lead over the Braves in the battle for the NL’s final Wild Card spot.

It has been a struggle from the start for the Braves, who have seen five position players from their Opening Day lineup miss at least two months because of injury this year. That’s not even counting Spencer Strider, who lived up to his billing as a top Cy Young Award candidate on Opening Day, then suffered a season-ending elbow injury in his following start.

Still, even with all the injuries, there has been a thought the Braves could make a deep postseason run because of their starting rotation. Schwellenbach’s impressive rise from the High-A level to Rookie of the Year candidate has strengthened and stabilized the rotation.

But the 24-year-old’s magic faded as he surrendered a career-worst 10 hits, including two home runs, and six runs — though just three earned — over five innings. He had allowed three runs or fewer in each of his seven previous starts. The only other time he surrendered six runs was when he made his second career start on June 5 at Fenway Park.

“I can live with being in the zone and getting beat while attacking guys,” Schwellenbach said. “That was just one of those days.”

Entering Saturday, the Braves’ starting pitchers had allowed three runs or fewer in 25 straight games, setting a franchise record that was also the sixth-longest streak in MLB history.

Schwellenbach surrendered leadoff homers to Horwitz in both the second and fourth innings. He induced a double play to position himself to exit the fourth without any further damage, but Luke Williams, who was playing second base in place of Merrifield, committed a two-out throwing error. Ernie Clement and Joey Loperfido followed with consecutive doubles.

“If he keeps going out there, that won’t be the last time that happens,” Snitker said.

Schwellenbach has exceeded all expectations while posting a 3.78 ERA through his first 17 career starts. He made just two starts above the High-A level before he debuted near the end of May. Making his rise even more impressive is the fact that he wasn’t a starting pitcher past the high school level, before totalling 16 starts while recovering from Tommy John surgery last year.

Schwellenbach has thrown 142 2/3 innings between the Minor and Major League levels this year. He totaled just 65 innings last year, and 31 2/3 innings while serving as the University of Nebraska’s closer in 2021.

So, is he feeling fatigued?

“It is a grind,” Schwellenbach said. “I haven’t thrown this many innings in my life. But I’m doing whatever I can to recover and get in the training room and the weight room and anything I can to come out and pitch each time. Physically, I feel fine. There’s nothing wrong mentally. I just have to keep going.”