Braves Bullpen Surrenders Four-Run Tenth, Wastes Elder's Seven Strong Innings

Bryce Elder handed Atlanta a lead. The Braves bullpen handed it back — and then some.

Elder worked seven innings Saturday against visiting Philadelphia, allowing three earned runs on six hits with two strikeouts and one walk across 92 pitches. That's 13.1 per inning — efficient, composed work that left manager Walt Weiss holding a 4-3 lead when the seventh ended cleanly. Pulling Elder after a full workload at 92 pitches was straightforward. What happened next was not.

Atlanta built its lead the hard way. The Phillies scored first in the top of the first when Adolis García lined a triple to left fielder Mike Yastrzemski, scoring Bryce Harper. Philadelphia went up 2-0 in the top of the fourth on Bryson Stott's triple to first baseman Matt Olson, plating Brandon Marsh. The Braves answered in the bottom of the fourth: Michael Harris II drew the deficit to one with a sacrifice fly to right fielder García, scoring Drake Baldwin. On the same inning's next scoring play, Austin Riley lined his sixth double of the season to left fielder Brandon Marsh, scoring Matt Olson and tying it at two. Harper's RBI single in the top of the fifth put Philadelphia back ahead 3-2. Atlanta reclaimed the lead for good — or so it seemed — in the bottom of the sixth, when Ozzie Albies lined his fourth double of the season to center fielder Justin Crawford, scoring Olson to tie it, and then Harris singled to left fielder Marsh to score Albies and put the Braves up 4-3.

Elder kept it there through seven. Weiss turned to Atlanta reliever Dylan Lee to open the eighth with a leverage index of 2.10. Lee allowed Kyle Schwarber to line a triple to center fielder Eli White, and Harper followed with a sacrifice fly to center to score Schwarber — a blown save, the game tied at four. Lee then struck out García and Marsh to strand the damage at one run, and Atlanta escaped the eighth still alive.

Reliever Tyler Kinley handled the top of the ninth, allowing a single to Justin Crawford but otherwise working around it, then issued a walk to Trea Turner to start the tenth.

That walk set the table for Atlanta reliever José Suarez, and the Phillies feasted. Schwarber walked to load the bases with Stubbs already on as the automatic runner. Harper then grounded a single to left fielder Yastrzemski, scoring Garrett Stubbs and Turner to put Philadelphia ahead 6-4 — the decisive blow. Marsh followed with a ground-ball single to right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr., scoring Dylan Moore and Harper to push it to 8-4. Suarez struck out the next three batters, but the lead was gone and the deficit was four.

Baldwin's single in the bottom of the tenth scored Eli White to make it 8-5, but Atlanta never got closer.

Suarez's line: one inning, three hits, two walks, two earned runs, three strikeouts. He got his outs — eventually. The two that mattered most came before them.

Elder gave Atlanta seven innings and a lead. The bullpen needed three more outs to win. Whether Lee's blown save or Suarez's tenth-inning collapse weighs heavier is the question this loss leaves behind.