Today's Three Things: AJ Smith-Shawver ascends with deep no-hit bid

Atlanta's young phenom finally showed what he can do when he's got everything working

The Atlanta Braves cruised to an easy 4-0 win against the Cincinnati Reds to open their four-game series in Truist Park on Monday night.

Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.

The Turning Point

Atlanta’s 3rd inning.

With both teams currently hitless, Nick Allen got a one-out single to left field to give the Braves just their second baserunner of the game. Alex Verdugo promptly doubled to right, with Allen motoring around from first to score Atlanta’s first run. Austin Riley followed that with a single of his own, scoring Verdugo, and then Matt Olson cleared the bases with an inside-the-park home run. (More on that homer later.)

It’s a good thing the Braves got a four-spot there, because they were held scoreless the rest of the game. Atlanta finished just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position (Riley’s RBI single), a continuing and worrisome trend that’s now extended to five consecutive games. Since the series finale versus Colorado, the Braves are just 2 for 29 with runners in scoring position.

Today’s Player of the Game

AJ Smith-Shawver.

The youngster came back from leaving last week’s start after being hit by a line drive in the elbow to dominate the Reds.

Despite two walks in the first inning and four in the first five innings, he held Cincinnati without a hit through his first six innings of work. It was the first time he ever broke the six-inning mark in a game, but he wasn’t done.

Coming back out for the seventh on just 91 pitches and with five strikeouts under his belt already, Smith-Shawver started running out of gas. He allowed a leadoff single to start the 8th inning, with Santiago Espinal lining an elevated fastball to centerfield to break up the no-no. Smith-Shawver rebounded, though, getting injury replacement Blake Dunn to pop out and then inducing a double play ball from TJ Friedl to end the inning.

I was impressed with Smith-Shawver’s efficiency late. He needed just nine pitches for the 5th, eleven for each of the 6th and 7th, and eight pitches for the 8th inning. Unbelievably, the splitter wasn’t the start of the show, picking up just four whiffs and no called strikes. He actually dominated with the fastball, getting five whiffs and thirteen called strikes for a 33% CSW on that pitch alone.

Landing the fastball for strikes, a pitch that now two teams (Colorado and Cincinnati) have been content to take, has changed the whole game plan for Smith-Shawver. Now that opposing hitters have to respect the heater and its locations, the splitter (especially down and away to lefties) has become even more dangerous.

What You’ll Be Talking About

Tyler Callihan’s injury in the bottom of the 2nd inning.

A rookie who made his MLB debut just last week, Callihan successfully caught Matt Olson’s 3rd-inning flyball in the left field corner but, running at full speed, crashed into the wall and dropped the ball. Laying on the ground with the ball next to him, the play continued and Olson motored around for an inside-the-park home run, just the second one in the history of Truist Park.

Callihan was immediately removed from the game and Cincinnati later announced he had a broken forearm.

(I’m not going to load the video, but here’s a link to the replay - be warned, it doesn’t look or sound good.)

I’m a bit conflicted on this whole sequence, obviously - I remember how mad I was when Jazz Chisholm got an inside-the-park home run in 2021 after Ronald Acuña Jr. tore his right ACL while attempting to make a leaping catch in the right field corner.

But at the same time, the coaching point given there is to keep running until the umpires stop the play. Had Olson stopped at third and foregone an additional run, out of sportsmanship or some other reason, he would have been excoriated by a large portion of the fanbase were the Braves to have gone on to lose this game by a single run.

Why is a ball under the outfield wall’s padding immediately a dead ball and the play stops, but in this situation, the play continues?

At the end of the day, I think we can acknowledge it’s unfortunate that Callihan was injured, but Olson handled this the way you’re coached to handle this situation. And the best case scenario going forward is some sort of provision where the umpires can stop the play at a certain point after a major and obvious injury happens.

What’s Next for the Braves?

The Braves have game two versus Cincinnati tomorrow night at 7:15 PM ET. It’s a battle of lefties, with Chris Sale (1-3, 4.84) versus Andrew Abbott (2-0, 2.84).