Braves' pitching 'holding up it's job', offense has to get on track

With just a few days left in the month of June, the Atlanta Braves find themselves sitting at 12-12 for the month and with the Pirates coming into town for a three-game series, the Braves will need to take two of three to wrap up June above .500 for the month.

And while the Pirates come into the matchup at 39-41, having had their fair share of struggles this season, the ups and downs of the Braves, including dropping four of their last six games, does not lead to much optimism for 92-9 The Game’s Mike Johnson of The Morning Shift.

“At what point as Braves’ fans can we panic? I mean at what point can we get to a spot where you say, ‘you know what, this team is just not that good this year’,” Johnson asked as he, Tiffany Blackmon and Rob Tribble were joined by Braves’ report Grant McAuley on Friday.

“That’s not true,” McAuley said as he shared his thoughts on Johnson’s sentiments explaining “a club that gets halfway through the season and has been pushing basically 10 games over .500 while not being as powerful as it should be,” McAuley said adding, “at some point the numbers tell you who and what you are,”.

However, while the Braves will head into Friday’s game with the Pirates at 44-35 and eight games back of the N.L East leading Phillies, McAuley also expressed that the Braves’ numbers “tell a very mixed and strange story,” due to the fact that the pitching for the Braves “is holding up it’s job,” and that “figuring out this offense,” has to be the biggest point of focus for Atlanta.