ATLANTA -- As the Trade Deadline nears, the Braves have been encouraged by their rotation and discouraged by a bullpen that continues to plague the team¡¯s bid to find consistent success.

Braves manager Brian Snitker¡¯s decision to lift starter Kyle Muller proved costly in a 3-2 loss to the Padres in the first game of a doubleheader on Wednesday afternoon at Truist Park. Muller¡¯s exit after four innings prompted the entry of Shane Greene, who allowed Fernando Tatis Jr.¡¯s 29th homer of the season.

Throwing 87 pitches through four innings certainly doesn¡¯t fit the description of an economical outing. But given Muller had allowed just one run at this point, sticking with him at this pitch count seemed to be less of a gamble than rolling the dice on Greene, who now has a 10.38 ERA through 15 appearances.

¡°That¡¯s a lot of pitches for four innings,¡± Snitker said. ¡°If you take almost 90 pitches to get through four innings, that's probably going to be the end of the day, most times.¡±

Most times, there are options better than the ones that currently exist in the Braves¡¯ bullpen. A.J. Minter was optioned after playing a part in the leads squandered against the Rays on Friday and Saturday.

Now the Braves have to continue evaluating some of their other regressing assets like Greene, who remained a free agent before the pitching-hungry Braves re-signed him. The veteran reliever¡¯s early struggles were blamed on not having Spring Training.

But more than two months after signing and more than a month after making his season debut, his struggles have continued. The 32-year-old hurler has allowed six runs and three homers over his past five appearances (4 2/3 innings).

So that¡¯s why there was reason to question replacing even a fatigued Muller with Greene, who walked Tommy Pham before allowing Tatis to belt his 411-foot homer over the left-center-field wall.

¡°He was really good two nights ago,¡± Snitker said. ¡°But I think it's just pretty much the location part.¡±

Muller allowed two hits and pitched around three walks while allowing just one run over four innings, but he wasn¡¯t given a chance to go through the Padres¡¯ lineup a third time.

Muller¡¯s emergence over the past few weeks has further strengthened a much-improved rotation. The big lefty has posted a 2.41 ERA through his first four career starts. The only run he surrendered on Wednesday came after a wild pitch moved Jurickson Profar in position to score on Ha-Seong Kim¡¯s sacrifice fly.

When told that Snitker described his outing as ¡°effectively wild,¡± Muller agreed with the assessment.

¡°I couldn't really find that groove to keep executing pitches and hit some spots,¡± Muller said. ¡°So, on the pitching side of things, it wasn't a very good performance. But in terms of damage control, I was pleased with that.¡±