Atlanta Braves Reynaldo López is Even Better Against Phillies than Most Realize

Atlanta Braves starter Reynaldo López has been masterful against the Philadelphia Phillies in 2024.

Atlanta Braves pitcher Reynaldo Lopez dominated the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday. / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Reynaldo López was masterful once again in his team's 7-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. He pitched six innings of one-run ball and allowed four hits and a walk while striking out six. 

Lopez narrowed down his success on the night to keeping his head and staying focused on getting the job done. 

“Confidence is the most important thing,” Lopez said via a translator. “Not getting too hung up if I miss on a pitch and continuing to believe myself and just keep attacking the hitters.” 

But his season against the Phillies is going better than many may realize. 

In his three starts against the Phillies this season, Lopez has a 1.06 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 17 innings pitched. This is the best three-start run for a starter against the Phillies since Jacob DeGrom pitched 18 shutout innings against them in 2018. 

Now, Lopez has been masterful all year against almost everybody. He has a 2.00 ERA on the season and if you remove the outings against Philadelphia, he still has a 2.15 ERA. He’s just especially good against a division rival. 

The Beast of the East has also faced the New York Mets twice without allowing a run in six innings. The Miami Marlins have happily missed his turn in the rotation this year.

This is the part where I once again point out the masterclass of a move for the Braves to put this guy back in the rotation. Lopez has managed to establish himself as a solid reliever the previous couple of seasons, but they saw something more here. The last time Lopez was a full-time starter was 2019 with the Chicago White Sox, and he had a 5.38 ERA.

According to Baseball Savant, the only difference is some more emphasis on his curveball compared to previous seasons. He’s still primarily a fastball-slider guy, but there’s a reason for that. 

Sometimes it just times out that a breakout season was brewing. Even then, there’s something about Atlanta that veteran arms love. 

Should the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves meet in the playoffs (again), Atlanta may be able to set their rotation to throw Lopez at the Phils twice.