
Atlanta Braves starter Spencer Schwellenbach was unexpectedly placed on the 15-day injured list last week due to a fractured right elbow, according to MLB.com’s Mark Bowman. The news came as a surprise, especially since he had just pitched days earlier on June 28. That outing now stings even more for the Philadelphia Phillies—it turns out, Schwellenbach was pitching with a broken elbow.
And he didn’t just pitch—he dominated. In what would become his final appearance before the injury, Schwellenbach silenced the Phillies’ offense, giving up just one run on three hits while striking out 12 over seven innings in a commanding 6-1 Braves victory. With hindsight, it’s a humbling moment for Philly, who got steamrolled by an injured pitcher, per Bowman.
Ironically, this injury setback might be more humiliating for the Phillies than the Braves. While Schwellenbach has been one of Atlanta’s top starters this season—posting a 7-4 record, 3.09 ERA, and 108 strikeouts over 110 2/3 innings—facing him at less than 100% should have been a rare break. But the Phillies, who have one of MLB’s lowest strikeout rates (20.6%, per FanGraphs), were overmatched anyway.
Although Atlanta won that game, they lost the series and, more critically, another key member of their rotation. Schwellenbach joins an increasingly crowded Braves injured list that already includes Reynaldo López, A.J. Smith-Shawver, and Chris Sale—who suffered a fractured rib shortly before Schwellenbach’s elbow diagnosis. The team also had to wait until May to get ace Spencer Strider back, after he underwent internal brace surgery following an April UCL injury. Put simply, Atlanta could hardly afford to lose another starter.
Despite the lopsided loss, the Phillies still sit atop the NL East with a 53-37 record, leading the Mets (52-39) by 1.5 games and holding a comfortable 13.5-game cushion over the injury-riddled Braves (39-50). It’s been a brutal season for Atlanta, and the continued blow to their rotation has only cleared the path for the Phillies to cruise toward another division title.
Sure, the Braves have come back from adversity before—see their 2021 championship run—but Schwellenbach’s gutsy, injury-laced gem against the Phillies may have been Atlanta’s last big punch in this year’s divisional fight.
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