Today's Three Things: Atlanta's Rookies Avert Sweep in Sunday Win

The Atlanta Braves continue to reap the rewards of the youth movement.

The Atlanta Braves scored two runs in the ninth inning to win tonight’s series finale 3-1 over the Philadelphia Phillies in Citizens Bank Park.

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

The Turning Point

The top of the 5th inning and the top of the 8th.

With Atlanta down 1-0 but having put two runners with only one out, things looked primed for the Braves to tie the game up.

Unfortunately, the bottom of the order had other ideas.

Nacho Alvarez Jr. struck out on three pitches, all inside and out of the zone. (In his defense, the first called strike on a pitch inside and clearly off the plate made him swing at the second pitch, which was in almost the exact same location). Sean Murphy then one-upped Alvarez, getting ahead 3-0 before then striking out on three fastballs in the zone.

Atlanta actually cashed in an opportunity to tie the game in the top of the 8th after Philly reliever Orion Kerkering allowed a single and two walks to open the inning. After Matt Olson’s RBI groundout to second, the Braves watched Ronald Acuña Jr. strike out looking on four breaking pitches and then

Today’s Player of the Game

Give me Hurston Waldrep.

Atlanta’s rookie starter has had an amazing August, but to keep it up, he needed to handle the increase in competition from the Chicago White Sox and Miami Marlins to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Well, he handled it.

Waldrep went 5.2 innings with only one run allowed to a potent Phillies lineup, coming on a solo shot by Brandon Marsh. He walked four and allowed four hits, but struck out a career-high nine. Waldrep really leaned on the splitter, throwing it 44 times (43% usage) and getting 13 whiffs on the pitch. Allowing a total of 12 balls in play on his 51 swings induced, only four were hard-hit (EV > 95 mph).

Several of his best pitches came in the biggest moments - he struck out Kyle Schwarber with the bases loaded and one out in the 3rd and struck out J.T. Realmuto with two on and two outs to end the fifth inning. The quartet of Schwarber, Realmuto, Trea Turner, and Bryce Harper went 1-11 with six strikeouts (three of Schwarber) and only a Trea Turner single.

Waldrep’s 1.01 ERA through his first six games is the fourth-best mark in Atlanta Braves history (since 1966), behind only Michael Soroka’s 2019 (0.98 ERA). Tom Glavine’s 2002 (0.89), and Kris Medlen’s exceptional 2012 (0.66).

What You’ll Be Talking About

The power of the rookies.

We’ve already discussed Waldrep. His counterpart on the other side of the ball, Drake Baldwin, was the hero for the offense. Not in the starting lineup due to both a lefty starter on the other side and Sean Murphy’s routine of catching Hurston Waldrep, Baldwin entered the game in a pinch-hit capacity in the 8th. He walked to load the bases ahead of Matt Olson’s game-tying RBI groundout and then came back around in the 9th.

Facing a tough lefty in José Alvarado, Baldwin ambushed a first-pitch 99-mph sinker and launched it to the opposite field for a two-run homer and the lead.

It was just Baldwin’s 59th at-bat of the year against a lefty, but he needs more of them - he had multiple hits in this series off of a lefty and is hitting .322/.394/.542 in those handedness situations, but has made only four starts with a lefty on the mound this season.

With both Sean Murphy and Marcell Ozuna slumping in August (.077 and .195, respectively), Baldwin needs to be in the lineup nearly every day between the designated hitter and catcher positions. He’s not only a much hotter hitter than the other two right now (.284 in August) but also back to being the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year in the National League.

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 win/loss.

What’s Next for the Braves?

The Braves are off to Chicago to take on the Cubs for three. Here are the pitching matchups for the series:

Monday (4:05 PM ET): Spencer Strider (5-12, 4.95) vs Colin Rea (10-6, 4.23)
Tuesday (7:40 PM ET): Joey Wentz (5-4, 4.92) vs Shota Imanaga (8-6, 3.08)
Wednesday (7:40 PM ET): Bryce Elder (5-9, 5.85) vs Cade Horton (9-4, 2.92)