Phillies ambush Braves in series-opening blowout

A promising 6-2 start to the Braves’ stretch of 13-straight games against division opponents has quickly turned into a 6-5 record after three consecutive losses. The team is now 10 1/2 games back in its division and 7 1/2 games out of the National League’s final wild-card spot.

And Friday’s 13-run loss to the Phillies was a culmination of all the club’s woes this season.

Starting pitching, once again, was an issue. The Braves do not have an answer to fill their starting rotation outside of Spencer Schwellenbach and Spencer Strider.

To be fair, the team was dealt a bad hand with injuries to Chris Sale, Reynaldo López and AJ Smith-Shawver and inconsistent performances by Ian Anderson and Hurston Waldrep in Triple-A. But it also let Max Fried and Charlie Morton walk in free agency and did not add anyone to replace them.

Elder, a former All-Star just two seasons ago, received the start on Friday after a two-hour and 19-minute rain delay. He struggled with command in the first inning — walking three batters after a leadoff double, including two with two-outs — to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead — and the division-leading club took batting practice from there.

Elder surrendered 10 runs, nine earned, through two innings. Since he finished three outs shy of throwing a complete game against the Giants on June 7, Elder has allowed 19 runs in 10.2 innings of work.

Neither Braves manager Brian Snitker nor Elder wanted to use the lengthy delay as an excuse for his poor performance, but his command upon returning suggested it played a role.

Elder began walking toward the dugout steps — after going through his standard pregame routine, which includes throwing in the bullpen — before umpires abruptly stopped him for the delay one minute before the scheduled first pitch time.

And Elder’s command was noticeably off when he trotted out to the mound a couple of hours later. He walked three batters in the first inning alone, which tied his season-high for an entire game.

“It’s not the ideal thing,” Snitker said of the conditions Elder faced. “But there’s a lot of things in this game that aren’t ideal. But it is tough. I hate it for him.”

Most concerning, the Braves’ offense continued to struggle, suffering consecutive shutouts for the first time since their season-opening series against the Padres. And unlike the starting rotation that will eventually see pitchers like Sale — and potentially even López, albeit not for a while — return, the offense will roll with who it has on the roster.

The Braves will likely add offensive pieces at the trade deadline but are unlikely to find a team-transforming player for the prospects the club is willing to deal.

“It’s challenging,” Snitker said of constructing a lineup filled with struggling players. “We move guys around and hopefully give them different looks. It’s been hard because we haven’t been able to get three or four guys going in one stretch. And that’s what it’s going to take for us to put something together, so we just keep fighting the fight.”

History suggests the Braves’ offensive position players are not bad. Although a rarity, the team’s 2023 season — that saw it tie MLB’s single-season home run record, among other offensive accomplishments — demonstrated its potential.

But most of those same players have struggled in 2025, and their performance is reflected in the team’s 37-44 record. Michael Harris II is batting .212 with no walks in his last 131 plate appearance and Ozzie Albies is hitting a career-low .223.

The Braves are also constantly having to start typical backup outfielders Alex Verdugo and Eli White, while Jurickson Profar serves his suspension, and the club’s shortstop Nick Allen — although he’s recorded six hits over his last four games — is primarily known for his defensive skills.

And it all culminated into the Braves’ dreadful performance Friday night at Truist Park.

But the club will only have about six hours to think about the loss, as it will continue its series against the Phillies at 7:15 p.m. Saturday, with Schwellenbach on the mound.