It seems quite clear Braves need starting pitching help

After the team’s 5-4 home win over the Nationals, Weiss was asked about the rotation’s prolonged dearth of seven-inning starts and if it were partly by design to keep arms fresh.

“Not exactly,” he said. “No, I would like for our starters to go deeper. But I’m watching the game, and I’m trying to win the game, and I do what I think gives us our best chance to win a game every night.”

Maybe it can happen internally. But with a flurry of activity expected ahead of Monday’s trade deadline, the Braves can patch this hole with much greater certainty.

Here’s a stat that spells it out: Through May 20, Braves pitchers had eight starts in which they covered at least seven innings.

Since then, they have had just one.

In that same span — May 21 through Thursday — the other 29 MLB teams had 210 such starts.

The numbers would suggest it’s had an effect on what has been a superior bullpen.

Through June, the Braves bullpen was tied for second-fewest appearances and eighth for fewest innings. It was probably not a coincidence it was first in ERA.

In July, it’s been a different story. Through Wednesday, the Braves were second in MLB in bullpen innings and appearances for the month. Not surprisingly, the Braves were 25th in bullpen ERA, at 5.30.

The historic shellacking of reliever Connor Thomas skews the ERA. Without his woeful relief outing at New York last week (2⅔ innings, 11 earned runs), the ERA for the month (through Wednesday) would be 4.49, which would still be 19th.

Regardless, it speaks to the taxation of the bullpen that Weiss made the drastic decision to allow Thomas to roast like a chestnut in order to give the relief pitchers a needed break.

“I would like for the starters to get deeper into games,” Weiss said. “Absolutely. It would certainly protect our ’pen. They’ve taken on a pretty heavy load, but they’re still feeling good. They’re still strong.”

Part of this falls on Weiss. In the balance between giving the bullpen rest and playing to win each night, he has often leaned to the latter, leaning hard on relievers to hold leads or keep the Braves in the game. And part of it is on a lineup that has often not given starters more margin.

But the starting pitching shoulders responsibility, also. The Braves’ starting pitching had a 3.26 ERA in March through May, fifth in MLB.

From the start of June through Wednesday, the ERA is 4.83, which ranks 23rd. That has meant a number of starts that ended shy of the sixth inning, let alone the seventh.

Grant Holmes’ Thursday start of 4⅔ innings was his ninth in a row in which he hadn’t logged more than five innings, although his ERA in that span is a not-awful 3.92.

“I’d love to take something off (the bullpen’s) plate,” Holmes said. “Not being able to, it kind of sucks.”

The benefit of trading for a starting pitcher isn’t only for the sake of the postseason. If the Braves could add someone who could consistently go into the sixth and seventh, it would also serve to take stress off the bullpen for the remainder of the regular season.

It doesn’t have to be Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal.

It could even be someone they see Friday night at Truist Park. They are scheduled to face Nationals lefty Foster Griffin, a 31-year-old who toiled the past three years in Japan. In 15 starts since the start of May, he has gone at least six innings 10 times and seven innings five times. His ERA over that span is 2.79.

The Braves bullpen probably wouldn’t mind him joining the club.

Weiss might not, either.

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