Today’s Three Things: Braves Advance to NLDS With Electric Win In Game Three

The Atlanta Braves have won a playoff series for the first time since October 2023

The Atlanta Braves took down the Philadelphia Phillies 6-2 in Truist Park on Thursday night to advance to the NL Divisional Series.

Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.

The Turning Point

I genuinely believe it was the first inning.

Philly was starting Aaron Nola, and he was great against Atlanta in September - three earned runs in 13.1 innings, with only three walks.

He walked two in the first inning today, and Atlanta cashed them both in. Michael Harris drove in Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson with a towering home run using his golf swing - he went down and got a Nola sinker that was just 1.19 feet off the ground. Per Mark Simon of Sports Info Solutions, who reached out to Braves Today mid-game, that was the lowest pitch Harris has EVER hit for a home run in his major league career.

The 3-0 lead for the Braves ended up sticking, as Atlanta won 6-2, and the reason is that both of these walks and their 4th inning walk (Austin Riley, with one out) all were immediately cashed in by home runs. They didn’t waste the opportunities today, not after doing so in the first two games of the series.

Today’s Player of the Game

Reliever Ray Kerr, with 59% of the vote.

Kerr was asked to open the game, with the lefty being tasked with getting past sluggers Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper in the first inning so that Grant Holmes had some space to work.

Kerr did that and more, pitching 3.1 scoreless innings with just one hit and one walk allowed while striking out two. He actually handled Schwarber and Harper twice, being lifted after a force out by Harper in the 4th that erased Schwarber’s leadoff walk.

The former 7/11 employee, who missed two full seasons of his career while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, had Slurpee in his veins tonight (complimentary) and was celebrated by the sold-out Truist Park after the outing ended.

While he got only five whiffs and allowed an average exit velocity of 93.7 mph, Kerr persevered through the outing thanks to his aggressiveness — he was attacking every batter from the very beginning, mixing his trademark curveball and a slider-ish cutter to great effect to strike out Harper in the first and Bryson Stott in the second.

If you know his story - and if you don’t, Friend of the Show Jesús Cano of The Athletic has you covered - you can’t help but root for the guy.

What You’ll Be Talking About

As much cool stuff as there was to talk about from this game - the parade of bullpen arms, the three homers, Matt Olson’s phenomenal scoops and defense at first base - we’ve gotta talk about Chris Sale.

By closing out tonight’s game three with four outs, He became the first pitcher to both throw the first and last pitch of a postseason series since…he did it for the Boston Red Sox back in 2018. He’s also the oldest pitcher to ever do that in the postseason.

Sale, who started Tuesday’s game one, was lined up for his normal between-starts throw day today, but Walt Weiss wasn’t going to ask him to make an appearance. “I was not going to go to Chris Sale and ask him if he could pitch, because I know that even if he was hanging, he would tell me yes,” he told BravesVision’s Wiley Ballard. “He was going to have to initiate that. And literally, as soon as I stepped in my office today, he was sitting in my chair across from my desk and said ‘I feel unbelievable. I’m ready to go.’, and so we kind of mapped out a plan.

Per MLB’s Sarah Langs, only three pitchers older than Sale have pitched 6+ innings in the postseason and then appeared on 1 or 0 days rest:

2003 ALCS G7: David Wells (40y, 149d)
1926 WS G7: Grover Alexander (39y, 226d)
2001 WS G7: Randy Johnson (38y 55d)

More fun stats here, courtesy of Opta Stats: Sale’s the first MLB pitcher to strike out nine or more batters and then have 3+ strikeouts in a relief appearance within the next two days since his idol Randy Johnson did it in the 1995 ALDS against the Yankees.

Sale confirmed to Gabe Burns of the AJC that despite tonight’s 21 pitches, he’d be ready for his next start, which lines up for Sunday in game two versus the Dodgers. “If I’d have to pitch tomorrow, I’d pitch tomorrow.”

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 having a sendoff at Truist Park tomorrow at 12:30 PM, as the team’s flying to Los Angeles for Saturday’s start of the NLDS versus the Dodgers. Game one, as of now, is scheduled for 4:00 PM ET from Dodger Stadium, with game two coming on Sunday at 8PM.