Today's Three Things: Braves bats blown up by Edward Cabrera's changeup

The Atlanta Braves just couldn't figure out the 95 mph changeup of Edward Cabrera

The Atlanta Braves dropped game two of the series against the Miami Marlins by a score of 5-1 from Truist Park on Friday night.

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

The Turning Point

The bottom of the third inning.

With two outs and down just 1-0, Atlanta started a miniature rally. Jurickson Profar drew an eight-pitch walk and then stole second base, putting the tying run in scoring position for #2 hitter Matt Olson.

It wasn’t to be - Olson grounded on a 2-2 changeup, hitting it softly to second base. The Braves didn’t have another runner in scoring position the entire game, finishing 0-for-1 in that department, while Miami added two more runs in the top of the 4th to start putting this one away.

As much as I want to condemn the Atlanta offense for being bad, Edward Cabrera was amazing tonight. The flamethrower picked up 19 whiffs across his eight innings, allowing just two hits and one run while striking out eleven. His changeup, which averaged 94.1 mph tonight, had six of those whiffs. Health and control are the only things holding Cabrera back from being one of the best pitchers in all of baseball - his stuff is elite, and the Braves saw it tonight.

Today’s Player of the Game

Jurickson Profar.

Atlanta had only two hits in this game, and the biggest one was off the bat of Profar - a solo shot in the 6th inning. It was a middle-middle fastball - and I mean middle-middle - but still came in at 98 miles per hour and Profar put a good swing on it.

Despite his defensive shortcomings, Profar’s done most of what Atlanta signed him to do at the plate. He has three homers in the last seven games and six on the season, albeit with a rough .236 batting average. As the leadoff hitter, he’s drawn 18 walks to 21 strikeouts and sports a .344 on-base percentage.

With the designated hitter spot coming open next season, the easy option if Atlanta doesn’t make any major additions is rotating guys through, but there’s a case to be made that Profar and Drake Baldwin rotating through there might be the best thing from a defensive perspective.

What You’ll Be Talking About

The struggles of Nacho Alvarez Jr.

The go-to replacement for Austin Riley, Nacho’s now batting just .209 with a .277 on-base percentage and .279 slug after 13 games at the hot corner. While his defense is much improved not that he’s been playing his natural position of third base, he’s also not showing the contact and on-base ability that produced a career AAA line of .288/.399/.440. While he’s still just 22 years old and his major league sample size is only 21 games, it’s still concerning that he’s not once looked comfortable at the plate in Atlanta. As the Braves’ highest-ranked position player prospect after Drake Baldwin graduated earlier this year, Atlanta needs more out of Alvarez, both to backfill for potential infield injuries or to make him a moveable asset as they attempt to make deals to strengthen the roster this winter.

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 loss.

What’s Next for the Braves?

The Braves have a day/night doubleheader tomorrow. Game one is at 1:15 PM ET and features designated 27th man Hurston Waldrep (1-0, 1.59) on the mound; Miami’s starter is still listed as TBD. The regularly scheduled night game, starting at 7:15 PM ET, features Erick Fedde (3-12, 5.32) taking on Sandy Alcantara (6-10, 6.44).