Today's Three Things: Atlanta Beats Cincy Despite Early Fade from Grant Holmes

Holmes couldn't make it through five, exhibiting the same "second time through the order" issues, but Atlanta's offense covered for the early exit

The Atlanta Braves took down the Cincinnati Reds 8-3 to open their series in Great American Ball Park on Friday night.

Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.

The Turning Point

The top of the 6th inning.

Holding a narrow 4-3 lead, the Braves had finally gotten opposing starter Chris Paddack out of the game. And with a well-rested bullpen, Reds manager Tito Francona chose to go with a youngster who was called up from the minors just this morning in Yunior Marte.

It was not the right call.

Dom Smith opened the frame with a single off the flamethrower, advancing to second after Austin Riley wore 97 on the elbow pad. Mike Yastrzemski, who’s still fired up by the color red from the series in Boston, punished the Reds with an RBI double to the right field corner that scored Smith from second. Jorge Mateo did his part, dropping a flare over the infield that scored Riley from third and allowed everyone, including Marte, to advance one extra base when the throw from left field went home in a futile attempt to get Riley.

Marte rebounded with a strikeout of Chadwick Tromp, but was instructed to intentionally walk Ronald Acuña Jr. (who homered to open the game) before being pulled.

About that.

I understand, in a vacuum, choosing not to face Acuña. Former MVP, hit a homer to open this game, all that. Makes sense.

But new reliever Caleb Ferguson was asked to get out the hotter-than-Georgia-asphalt Michael Harris II, who is 11 for his last 30 and has a .603 slug over the last 15 games, and wasn’t up to the task. Harris ripped a 1-0 sinker at 109 mph back up the middle, scoring both Yastrzemski and Mateo and turning what was a one-run game into a comfortable five-run lead for Atlanta.

The Reds never came closer than five runs down the rest of the night.

Today’s Player of the Game

With 73% of the vote on the postcast, Harris was the easy choice here.

He finished with three hits and three RBI tonight, and that’s WITHOUT the first-inning home run that was robbed by right fielder Blake Dunn.

Harris sits at 1.9 fWAR, tied for 20th in MLB and the 3rd-best mark among NL centerfielders. As Jake and I discussed on the Postcast, Harris is contending with Andy Pages of the LA Dodgers for the starting spot on this summer’s All-Star Team, and with Braves Country behind him, should make his first Midsummer Classic through either fan voting or being deserving enough of a managerial selection.

What You’ll Be Talking About

With all due respect to Atlanta’s offense, who saw all but two players either record a RBI or score a run, we’re talking about Grant Holmes here.

The righthander was visibly frustrated in the dugout after being pulled with two outs in the 5th. Manager Walt Weiss confirmed after the game that he had given Holmes one additional hitter, leftfielder JJ Bleday, to find a third out of the inning. But Bleday singled, putting runners on 1st and 3rd, so Weiss called on Didier Fuentes to clean up the mess. (Fuentes eventually did, but only after grooving a 0-2 fastball to Sal Stewart, who laved it into right for an RBI single).

The issue, as always for Holmes, was turning the lineup over. The first time through, the righthander issued one walk and allowed one single while striking out three. But once Reds’ hitters got to see him again, they started to find more success to the tune of two homers, a double, and three singles.

Jake brought up a great point on the Postcast - Grant adjusted his sequencing the second time through, minimizing his much-improved fastball in favor of his slider and, in a surprise, his seldom-used kick change.

The adjustments that Holmes has made this season include more fastballs and sliders, mostly at the expense of his once-dominant cutter, while also adding a sinker (which he went away from after the first time through the order).

If Holmes isn’t able to figure out his optimal sequencing after turning over a lineup, he’s the first man out of the rotation once either an injured starter returns or the Braves are ready to promote another prospect out of the minors.

Special acknowledgment goes to the bullpen, who replaced Holmes with 4.1 innings of two-hit, scoreless ball with five strikeouts and no walks.

Looking for more discussion about this game?

Here’s tonight’s Postcast, with me and Locked On Braves host Jake Mastroianni, as we went live to break down the contest.

What’s Next for the Braves?

Atlanta’s looking to win the series early on Saturday, with veteran lefty Martín Pérez (2-3, 2.70) getting the ball opposite Brady Singer (2-4, 6.26) at 7:15 PM on Fox.