The Atlanta Braves have finally reached the end of their 13-game stretch against NL East opponents. It started off as well as they could have hoped with a three-game sweep over the Mets. Unfortunately, that didn’t last.

They lost two out of three to the Marlins, split a four-game set with the Mets, and just lost their series versus the Phillies. Atlanta really needed to win most of those games to get themselves in a favorable position in the division.

Instead, they are 7-6 over that span and sit 10.5 games behind the Phillies in third place. Any momentum they found has quickly dissipated, and the Braves aren’t in a great position.

Jurickson Profar will make his long-awaited return on July 2nd and hopefully, he can help boost morale. However, fans will be skeptical because a lot of people thought Ronald Acuña Jr. would kickstart the offense, but that hasn’t been the case.

The team cannot find any consistency and that’s their biggest problem. Braves insider Mark Bowman spoke with Spencer Strider after Sunday’s loss and he stated, “There’s no excuses and I don’t think you’re going to find any. The belief that we are a better team is in the clubhouse. At some point, that’s going to have to translate into results.”

Phillies starter Ranger Suarez continues to have the Braves number

Sunday’s loss was just another continuation in the saga of Phillies starter Ranger Suarez owning the Braves. He is one of the few pitchers that the offense cannot seem to figure out, no matter how hard they try.

Suarez completed seven innings allowing just one run, a Sean Murphy solo homer, with one walk and eight strikeouts. Since his debut in 2018, he is 4-4 with an ERA of 3.48 with 28 walks and 84 strikeouts against the Braves. If we are being honest, it has felt much worse than that, especially in recent years.

Atlanta’s offense has a .220 average collectively against Suarez, as well as a .692 OPS as squad. That’s not a recipe for success against anyone. Every pitcher seems to just have a team they excel against and unfortunately for the Braves, they faced that guy on Sunday.

The Braves were 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position and that runner in scoring position came in the ninth inning. Atlanta also left seven runners on base throughout the game with 11 strikeouts. There’s no reason the offense shouldn’t have been able to cover a one-run deficit, but that’s how things have gone this year.

Both teams won’t meet again until the end of August, so the Braves will have to wait a little while before they get to exact any revenge against the lefty Suarez. Hopefully, the team is in a much better state once that series takes place.