Atlanta Braves starter Spencer Schwellenbach was placed on the 15-day injured list with a fractured right elbow last week, per MLB.com's Mark Bowman. The injury was surprising for most considering he had just pitched a few days before on June 28. That start feels even worse, especially for the Philadelphia Phillies as that was Schwellenbach's last start before going down with a broken elbow.
Schwellenbach was dealing in that game and hindsight makes it that much more embarrassing for the Phillies after he allowed only one run on three hits and striking out 12 over seven innings. Schwellenbach was flat out dominant and easily secured the win for the Braves in a 6-1 final, per Bowman.
Braves' latest nightmare injury news is more embarrassing for Phillies than anyone
The Phillies have had their fair share of issues against good pitching and Schwellenbach has been that class of pitcher for the Braves. After the win, he went to 7-4 with a 3.09 ERA and 108 strikeouts over 110 2/3 innings pitched. There's no shame in losing to one of the Braves' best starters, but to lose to him with a fractured elbow, is borderline crazy. According to FanGraphs, the Phillies have the ninth-lowest strikeout rate at 20.6 percent. The outing only adds to the mystery of how he dealt with the injury.
Although it was a big win for the Braves, they inevitably ended up losing the series and anther piece of their rotation for the foreseeable future. They're already dealing with the losses of Reynaldo Lopez, A.J. Smith-Shawver and Chris Sale to their rotation. Sale was the most recent blow with a fractured rib before Schwellenbach went down with an elbow fracture. They even had to wait until May on their ace Spencer Strider after he had internal brace surgery for a UCL injury sustained in April 2024. To say they couldn't afford another starter hitting the injured list, would be an understatement.
The Phillies, although getting nearly blanked in that embarrassing matchup, still lead the NL East by a game and a half at 53-37 over the Mets (52-39) and 13.5 games over the Braves (39-50). It's been a nightmare season for the Braves and the mounting pitching injuries have only made the Phillies’ job easier at repeating as division champions. The Braves are never out of it and you can look at their 2021 late season run as a prime example, but Schwellenbach's elbow debacle against the Phillies may have been the Braves last stab at the Phillies in 2025.