Braves endure rough trip on and off the field

Before the team even left Atlanta to play the White Sox in Chicago, it lost reliever Tyler Kinley to the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation. When the team took the field Tuesday, Ronald Acuña Jr. tweaked his hamstring again, and he too was sent to the IL. Later that night, Raisel Iglesias gave up a two-out, two-run walk-off homer run to Braden Montgomery in a 6-5 loss in 10 innings.

After losing 2-1 on Wednesday, a game in which the Braves went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base, weather became an issue. Having Thursday’s finale wiped out because of rain wasn’t the worst thing in the world, but severe weather the rest of that night delayed the team’s outbound flight to New York City.

The Braves arrived in the Big Apple about the same time the sun was rising. Friday only got worse from there. Spencer Strider left Friday’s outing at Citi Field with what is almost certainly a serious elbow injury.

Silver linings were JR Ritchie’s five innings of scoreless relief after Strider left Friday’s game, then a 3-1 win Saturday. Sunday’s performance was a complete dud, though, with starter Bryce Elder allowing four runs in the first inning and the offense going 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position (including 0-for-3 in a bases-loaded, no-outs situation in the first inning).

The good news now is that the Braves have a much-needed off day Monday before six straight games at Truist Park, where they have won 22 of 33 games. The Giants — the second-worst team in the National League, tied with three teams for the second-most losses (43) in baseball — come to Atlanta to start a three-game series Tuesday.

“Our team has been great about meeting all the challenges of a season, whether it’s injury-related, travel-related — there’s always challenges along the way in this league,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “I feel like our guys have met all the challenges head on. And it’s a good group. They show up the right way every day.”

Grant Holmes is scheduled to take the mound Tuesday, followed by Ritchie on Wednesday and Martín Pérez on Thursday. Ritchie will be making his first start with the Braves since May 18 and first start at Truist Park since May 13, following his short stint at Triple-A Gwinnett.

“I feel like I definitely learned a lot,” Ritchie said of his trip down to Triple-A Gwinnett before being recalled to the majors last week. “It was only three weeks down there, but just kind of amplified what I’d been working through. Really felt like I was trying to do too much with the ball, be better than I was, in a sense.

“My last start down there, I really felt like I kind of got back to myself of trusting who I was and my game, not trying to create an identity for myself. I just feel a lot more like myself overall.”

Noticeably absent from the probable starters against the Giants this week is Chris Sale, but Weiss said Friday the former Cy Young Award winner is just getting some extra rest during the course of a long season. Sale could be a prime option to take the ball Friday in the opener of a three-game series against the visiting Brewers, meaning he could be opposed by Brewers rising star Jacob Misiorowski, who is not pitching this week against the Guardians in Milwaukee.

First things first, of course, with the Braves trying to get back on track after a bit of a lull in well-played baseball. Weiss hasn’t lost confidence that a rebound is bound to happen soon because of the makeup of the clubhouse.

“Really, it’s a group that likes to compete. They get along very well, it’s a very close-knit group. They enjoy coming to the yard every day,” Weiss said. “They approach it for all the right reasons. They perform for the team, and that’s the culture that’s been developed in there. But you gotta have the right people to develop that culture. We have the right type of guys.”