On May 22, Bryce Elder completed six innings against the Washington Nationals to lower his ERA on the season to 1.97. His FIP sat at a reasonable 3.31 and even his 3.84 xFIP was totally palatable.
Flash forward to Saturday night — a span of six starts — and after surrendering five more runs to the San Francisco Giants over four innings, Elder’s ERA now sits at 4.01 on the season. His ERA over those six starts is north of 10.
Elder was bad, the bats were lifeless again, and the Braves fell to the Giants 5-0 on Saturday night at Oracle Park.
Rafael Devers, who transforms into Barry Bonds against the Braves, hit a solo homer in the second inning and a three-run homer that clanked off the foul pole to make it 5-0. And that, as they say, was that.
Atlanta had one hit, a double from Mauricio Dubon early. They walked three times. Logan Webb and the San Francisco bullpen cruised after the first two innings.
The lone bright spot was Grant Holmes, who was superb in relief of Elder for four innings. He allowed just one hit, walked none and struck out four. We’ll see what Walt Weiss decided to do with the rotation next week.
Chris Sale will try to win the series on Sunday afternoon. He’ll be opposed by Robbie Ray, who mowed the Braves down last week. First pitch is 4:05 p.m. ET as the Braves play their final west coast game of the season.
