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By Brian Pitts

Enterprise Record

Jayson Stark, a writer for The Athletic, drew smiles from local fans when he put this post on X on Saturday:

The curse of Whit Merrifield? The Phillies since they released him: 4-12. The Braves since his first start: 3-0.

The Phillies released Merrifield on July 12. They haven’t won a series since, dropping seven of eight games through Aug. 2.

Merrifield signed with Atlanta on July 22 but injured a finger on his throwing hard in pregame warmups on the same day. He came off the bench and stole a base in a 3-2 loss to the Mets on July 25, but he was recovered and able to make his first start in a Braves uniform on Aug. 1. He batted ninth and went 0 for 3 in a 4-2 Atlanta win.

Merrifield played a significant role in Friday’s 5-3 win over the Marlins. With Atlanta trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth, he tripled down the right-field line, the ball barely landing in fair territory. He would score on a groundout to cut the deficit to one. In the bottom of the eighth, Atlanta got a leadoff walk and Merrifield followed with a sac bunt, which led to the Braves tying the score at 3. Merrifield went 1 for 1 with a walk as Atlanta extended their winning streak to four.

Merrifield got another hit on Saturday, going 1 for 4, but the Braves fell short 4-3 to remain five games behind Philly in the National League East.

Nacho Alvarez’s struggles have allowed Merrifield to play every day. The rookie was serving as injured Ozzie Albies’ replacement at second, but he was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett after going 3 for 30 in his first action in the big leagues.