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<\/p>\nATLANTA \u2014 Reynaldo L\u00f3pez\u2019s chances of being a playoff starter for the Atlanta Braves increased on the eve of his first start since he landed on the injured list over a month ago with left knee inflammation. On Wednesday night, the right-hander had the perfect test to prove he was worthy.<\/p>\n
But 4 2\/3 innings later against the Tampa Bay Rays, who have the best record and OPS in the American League, L\u00f3pez exited the game after giving up six earned runs on seven hits in the Braves\u2019 7-2 loss. The Braves\u2019 lead in the National League East dropped to three games after the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Houston Astros 11-7.<\/p>\n
After Chris Sale, Tyler Mahle and, more recently, Grant Holmes, the Braves \u2014 with 16 games remaining in the regular season \u2014 don\u2019t have a clear candidate if they need a fourth postseason starter. And with Bryce Elder going on the IL after left knee surgery, Mart\u00edn Perez getting lit up against the Phillies on Saturday and AJ Smith-Shawver pitching inconsistently since his recall, L\u00f3pez\u2019s shaky outing adds to the uncertainty.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got six starters right now,\u201d Braves manager Walt Weiss said. \u201cThose are ongoing conversations with how we\u2019re going to move forward. (We) don\u2019t have anything after the (Phillies) series (this weekend).\u201d<\/p>\n
Of L\u00f3pez\u2019s 80 pitches, 33 were balls, often leading him to pitch behind in the count against a Rays team that has relied on small ball for productivity.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t help, either, that opponents are hitting nearly .300 against his four-seamer this season, his highest rate allowed on any of his pitches. He tried to get hitters to swing-and-miss on his slider, which he threw nearly as much as his fastball, but the Rays didn\u2019t budge, forcing L\u00f3pez to work from behind.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Drake Baldwin led off the fourth inning with a home run, but that just cut the Rays\u2019 lead to five. (Brett Davis \/ Imagn Images via Reuters Connect)<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the name of the game,\u201d Weiss said. \u201cI mean, all these guys got good stuff, but you got to have count leverage for the most part. It\u2019s a rough ride if you don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s especially frustrating because he and the Braves know how stellar L\u00f3pez can be as a starter.<\/p>\n
In his first season with the Braves, in 2024, L\u00f3pez made his only All-Star appearance, finishing with a 1.99 ERA. His 5.1 WAR was the club\u2019s second best behind Sale\u2019s. His performance was more remarkable given that he was in the bullpen for the three years before Atlanta took a chance on him as a starter, something L\u00f3pez wasn\u2019t seeking from a team during free agency.<\/p>\n
In 2025, he was looking to build off his best year, but he had arthroscopic shoulder surgery after one start, wiping out his season.<\/p>\n
When L\u00f3pez returned this season, he began in the rotation. After five starts \u2014 getting three outs on 58 pitches against the Washington Nationals on April 21 in the last of them \u2014 he was moved to the bullpen to work on his flaws.<\/p>\n
After injuries and inconsistencies in the starting rotation, L\u00f3pez returned as a starter on June 26. In six starts, L\u00f3pez had a 3.86 ERA in 28 innings. He allowed one or zero runs in four of those starts, sprinkled in with back-to-back outings allowing four or more runs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith that being my first time being out for a full year is a bit tough,\u201d L\u00f3pez said in Spanish. \u201cYou lose your mechanics and you lose the feel for your arm. You lose everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bad start and adversity from major surgery don\u2019t mean all hope is lost for L\u00f3pez\u2019s impact in the postseason.<\/p>\n
Pitchers who are typically starters can play a big postseason role in the bullpen, whether to cover a short start or enter in high-leverage situations. If L\u00f3pez can get ahead in counts, he\u2019ll be a reliable arm. If he doesn\u2019t, he might not be on the postseason roster.<\/p>\n
It remains unknown whether the Braves will continue to operate on a six-man rotation, but as L\u00f3pez has shown, he will be ready to contribute in whatever role they feel is best for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year has been a roller coaster with the way things have been going this season,\u201d L\u00f3pez said through team interpreter Franco Garc\u00eda. \u201cHopefully we can just get it right going into the postseason and hopefully just get going.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA \u2014 Reynaldo L\u00f3pez\u2019s chances of being a playoff starter for the Atlanta Braves increased on the eve…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":842904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2111,363,99],"class_list":["post-842903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}