Today's Three Things: A Familiar Blueprint for Another Braves Series Win

The Atlanta Braves rode a dominant strikeout performance and an extra-base hit barrage to another series win

The Atlanta Braves defeated the Miami Marlins 9-3 in loanDepot Park on Thursday night to win the series three games to one.

Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.

The Turning Point

Atlanta’s win was fueled by the bats, but the pivotal moment came in the 7th inning.

Spencer Strider entered on a roll - only two runs on three hits, walking one and striking out nine. But outfielder Kyle Stowers had seen enough. He opened the frame with a Dom Smith-esque eight-pitch at-bat, fouling off multiple four-seamers and changeups in the zone until he got a pitch he could drive. Strider’s only breaking ball of the at-bat, a slider at the very bottom of the zone, was driven into the right-center seats, the Marlins’ third solo homer of the game and bringing Atlanta’s lead down to just three.

Strider was undeterred, turning right around and getting Jakob Marsee to flyout to left on a fastball in the exact same spot that Stowers hit the slider. But after the battle to Stowers, the accumulated fatigue and pitch count got to the righty, with Strider walking Christopher Morel on four straight pitches. The Braves unsuccessfully tried to challenge the only one remotely close to the zone, a 2-0 heater away at just 93.5, but the four-pitch walk prompted Walt Weiss to lift the flamethrower for lefty Dylan Lee.

Lee promptly gave up a single to pinch-hitter Heriberto Hernández, giving Miami the tying run at the plate in the form of pinch-hitter Esteury Ruiz.

It wasn’t a concern for Lee, who got the light-hitting centerfielder to strike out on three consecutive sliders, all layered in the bottom of the zone, before inducing a groundout by Javier Sanoja to strand both runners and hold Atlanta’s lead. The Braves would go on to add insurance runs in both the 8th and 9th to eliminate the save situation and allow Dylan Dodd, not Raisel Iglesias, to pitch the 9th.

Today’s Player of the Game

Being the amateur pitching nerd that I am (and the fact that there wasn’t a postcast tonight, as I was at a fantastic Steep Canyon Rangers concert as the game ended), I’m making the executive decision to give it to Spencer Strider.

(I acknowledge that this may not be the consensus opinion, but don’t worry, I’m going to give the offense their flowers in the next section.)

Strider finished with three runs allowed in his 6.1 innings, all on solo homers, while allowing just four hits and two walks. He struck out nine and as always, the process is what shines here.

Even on the condensed game that I watched after the fact, it was clear how Strider was having his way with Miami’s hitters, for the most part. The intent to shake up his sequencing was the biggest thing that stood out, with Strider going fastball-heavy the first time through the order and then pivoting to slider/changeup (14 thrown!) and curveball the next turn, before then pivoting back to a fastball-heavy attack, but with more sliders and less curveballs as the secondary pitch. It’s continued growth for him as a pitcher, not just a thrower. How often do you see Strider getting multiple strikeouts looking, like he did the second time through when three different Marlins were looking up for fastballs and took breaking balls in the bottom of the zone for punch outs?

But the characteristics of that fastball are worth discussing today, as well. Despite his velocity being a touch lower, averaging ‘only’ 94.8 mph tonight, it also gained two full inches of induced vertical break over his season average, sitting at 19 inches tonight. The fastball became a weapon in and of itself tonight, with Strider bringing the locations down to induce groundballs with it (the first inning GIDP by Otto Lopez) and climbing the ladder with it for swinging strikes before then dropping both curveballs and changeups below it.

While the three homers aren’t great, obviously - one was a fastball in the zone, one was a great piece of hitting on a curveball below the zone, and the third was the slider to Stowers in the 7th - they were all solo shots due to Strider’s ability to get ahead in the count (63% first strike percentage) and keep throwing strikes (65%).

What You’ll Be Talking About

The offensive barrage for Atlanta.

After being shut out in game one, the Braves exploded for 26 runs in the final three games of the series. Tonight’s formula was similar to several other we’ve seen during the hottest runs of this roster - early runs coupled with a dominant starting pitcher.

Michael Harris II opened the scoring with a two-run shot in the first inning, getting a changeup in the middle third away and launching it at 110.5 off the bat. Mike Yastrzemski followed that up with a solo homer in the 2nd, also on a changeup, before Harris turned on a fastball in the upper third from closer Pete Fairbanks in the 9th and deposited it almost in the same spot as his first inning homer.

It wasn’t all home runs, though. Yastrzemski added an RBI double in the top of the 6th, scoring Dominic Smith from first thanks to some excellent baserunning. As Yaz got to second, he saw Smith was still a ways from crossing the plate, so he continued on to third and intentionally got himself in a rundown. He was eventually tagged out, which ended the inning, but not before Smith crossed the plate.

Here’s the footage from the high home camera, where you can see Yastrzemski notice that Smith’s just rounded third base as he’s rounding second, continues on towards third to induce the throw, but then stops once the relay actually makes the throw to start the rundown and give Smith time to officially score the run:

There will be folks who bemoan the baserunning error here, but it was heads-up baseball and ensured Smith had time to cross the plate before the 3rd out was recorded. It’s obvious that this is what Yaz was doing, too, because once Smith crosses home plate, he almost immediately shuts it down and concedes the out.

Special credit goes to Mauricio Dubón tonight, as well, who continued being the clutchest player on this roster with a two-run single in the 8th. As he’s known to do, Dubi shortened his swing with two strikes and made sure he got the ball over the infield, allowing both Ozzie Albies and Dominic Smith to score.

In another data point to this team’s improved baserunning, Dubón also made sure he advanced to second base on the throw home by the centerfielder.

Another Thing You’ll Be Talking About

Ronald Acuña Jr. left tonight’s game after the sixth inning for precautionary reasons, experiencing thumb pain. X-rays were negative and he’s officially day-to-day, although he was apparently already lobbying to get into tomorrow’s lineup, per manager Walt Weiss. The belief is that this is a small bone bruise, with the thumb stiffening up and hindering Ronald’s ability to play defense, but the outfielder reported that the issue had mostly resolved itself after the game.

Ultimately feels like this is relatively minor and not something to worry about, but one to monitor.

What’s Next for the Braves?

Atlanta is heading back to Truist Park for a three-game series with the Washington Nationals. Here are the pitching matchups, as announced by Atlanta’s comms team prior to tonight’s game:

Fri: Bryce Elder (4-2, 2.01) vs Miles Mikolas (1-3, 6.91)
Sat: Grant Holmes (3-1, 3.80) vs Jake Irvin (1-4, 5.59)
Sun: LHP Martín Pérez (2-2, 2.85) vs LHP Foster Griffin (5-2, 4.02)