The Atlanta Braves took down the Miami Marlins 8-3 in Miami’s loanDepot park on Saturday afternoon.
(Yes, that’s really how Miami capitalizes the ballpark’s name.)
Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
The second inning, believe it or not.
Atlanta started off hot, with leadoff man Michael Harris II doubling and immediately being advanced to third on Ronald Acuña Jr’s groundout. Matt Olson’s flare pop-out was misplayed by Miami, allowing Harris to score - if leftfielder Heriberto Hernández caught it with his momentum coming in, Harris likely holds up at third.
But instead, shortstop Otto Lopez caught it on the run, heading away from the infield, and so Harris and third base coach Tommy Watkins decided to test Miami’s ability to finish the back half of the play and were rewarded with a run for their efforts.
But that’s all the Braves got in the first, with Marlins opener Jack Ralston getting out of the inning and coming back out for the second.
He wouldn’t finish it.
Mike Yastrzemski worked a six-pitch walk and then, after an Ozzie Albies strikeout (on a wild pitch, to boot - don’t worry, we’re getting to this), Dominic Smith took advantage of the rare start to pop a two-run homer to right-center.
But the Braves weren’t done. Against new reliever Victor Vodnik, Ha-Seong Kim drew a walk, advanced to 2nd on Money Mike’s second hit of the game, and scored on a fielding error that took a hit away from Acuña.
Four runs in the first two innings, on eleven total batters? We’ll take it. Miami’s pitching plan was in a blender after that, and while they recovered somewhat in the middle third of the game, they never could catch Atlanta in this one.
Today’s Player of the Game
Michael Harris II, with 55% of the vote.
Money Mike was the leadoff hitter today, hitting ahead of Ronald Acuña Jr., and made the most of the playing time. Harris went 4-5 today and scored three times, driving in one as well. It’s the fourth four-hit game of the season for Mike, with two of them coming in the last two weeks.
And I’m really enjoying the dynamic of Harris and Acuña hitting back-to-back at the top of the order, although it requires the Braves to leave Acuña in the #2 spot to break up a potential three-lefty run of Harris-Olson-Baldwin. Both guys have speed, allowing for more RBI chances for the sluggers behind them.
Harris continues to come into his own as an All-Star-caliber hitter - he’s set career highs in homers (26), runs (79), and RBI (87) this season and while his stolen base total never recovered from the quad injury he played through in May, he’s continuing to inch closer to the MVP-caliber ceiling that we know is in there.
What You’ll Be Talking About, Pitching Edition
Atlanta’s bullpen game worked almost to perfection.
Brent Suter gave the Braves three quality innings, allowing just one hit and no runs across three solid innings. That’s six scoreless innings between Suter and Kerr in the last two days, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out three.
Dylan Dodd got tagged for two runs in the 4th inning, all with two outs, after giving up a homer to Javier Sanoja followed by a HBP and two singles. But Victor Mederos was able to give the Braves two scoreless to finish the middle third of the game, with the leverage trio of Robert Suarez, Dylan Lee, and Raisel Iglesias giving up a single two-out run (charged to Suarez) but otherwise handling their assignments in the final third of the game.
If the Wild Card round goes to a game three, the Braves will have options to get through the outing by leaning on length out of the bullpen, as well as to cover the 4th starter spot they would need if they advance to the NL Divisional Series.
What You’ll Be Talking About, Offense Edition
Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies: Yikes.
The duo combined for no hits and five strikeouts in nine at-bats, with Ozzie grounding out twice and Riley having one groundout and one flyout (both hard-hit). The saving grace here is that they were batting 5th (Riley) and 7th (Albies) tonight, but it’s still a bit of a rally killer to have the two of them batting so close together.
I mean, Albies struck out with a runner on against a pitch that was not only in the dirt, but it also wasn’t caught and was charged as a wild pitch.
(He also didn’t even attempt to run to first, but I’m assuming that was a direction from the coaching staff in a game that didn’t matter.)
And while I’m preparing myself for both to be in the lineup on Tuesday for game one of the Wild Card round, it’s hard to think of two other starters I currently have less faith in on this team right now than Albies and Riley.
Sean Murphy, who has also been ice cold in September, is another player who might get stuck into the bottom of the order for October despite his offensive performance not warranting the start. But unlike Albies, at least Murphy is a difference-maker defensively, both with his blocking & framing behind the plate and his game-calling.
It’s approaching the point where Albies is the biggest liability in the lineup on a day-to-day basis, because if he’s not hitting for power, he’s not providing anything.
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?
The final regular-season game for Atlanta is tomorrow at 3:10 PM ET, with JR Ritchie (1-4, 479) taking on Janson Junk (6-49, 4.31).
Miami drew 35,000 to a meningless game in late September.
Good for them. Maybe they thought it was a Dolphins game.
15th losing season in the last 17. And Manfred wants to expand and water the talent down for more.