The Atlanta Braves dropped their series opener to the Cincinnati Reds 4-0 in Truist Park on Tuesday night.
Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
Atlanta, frustratingly, couldn’t figure out starter Brandon Williamson. The recently activated Williamson, making only his second start and fifth appearance since returning from UCL surgery, had six scoreless innings versus the team he suffered the injury against.
But the Braves, as they tend to do, got after it against the bullpen.
The top of the order got two in scoring position against lefty reliever Brock Burke in the 7th - Drake Baldwin got down 0-2 and battled back for a leadoff walk, advancing to second on Matt Olson’s single to right. After cleanup hitter (?) Ozzie Albies flew out, Michel Harris II swapped places with Olson via a force out. Harris then stole second to give Mauricio Dubón two in scoring position, but despite the utilityman’s excellence with RISP (.315 avg, 117 wRC+), Dubón swung through a 99 mph fastball to end a seven-pitch at-bat.
Atlanta got yet another chance in the 8th, with Austin Riley opening the inning by singling off of the sweeper away. Righty TJ Antone got two quick outs, though, striking out Sean Murphy on a sweeper well off the plate before Ha-Seong Kim popped out on an inside sinker that ran in on his hands.
But after the lineup turned over, the Braves built themselves a rally. Pinch-hitter Mike Yastrzemski drew a four-pitch walk, with Drake Baldwin executing an accidental swinging bunt to load the bases.
But Matt Olson, who has come through in so many situations this season, was stuck in one that’s vexed him all season: Bases loaded. Olson got fooled on a sweeper that broke in towards his feet, popping out to third to end the threat.
Frustratingly, despite a career .289 avg/145 wRC+ with the bases loaded, Olson’s now just 1-14 in 2026 in that situation, hitting one single. He’s still produced, driving in six runs, but he’s drawn just one walk in those situations, has struck out four times, and grounded into at least one double play. Small-sample-size shenanigans, but still frustrating.
Today’s Player of the Game
Let’s give it to JR Ritchie for his improvement tonight.
The youngster, looking to rebound from a tough start in Chicago last week, allowed just one run on four hits, walking three while striking out a season-high eight. And even those walks were a bit understandable - two of the three went to Elly De La Cruz, who was rightfully being pitched around after he popped Ritchie for a solo shot in the 3rd inning.
Ritchie’s improved velo from the minors and Chicago traveled back to Truist Park, with JR hitting 97.2 and averaging 95.3 with his four-seamer. That better velo helped Ritchie pick up twelve whiffs, five each on the curveball and four-seamer, with the final two coming on the changeup.
Ritchie also did a better job of managing contact today, allowing just two hard-hit balls among his 11 put into play, and he held the average exit velocity for Cincinnati’s hitters to just 81.6 mph. It was just four groundballs to three flyouts, but the hardest-hit ball was De La Cruz’s home run and even that was only 100.9 mph.
The tough thing here is…what do you do with Ritchie now? Even with this recent improvement, he’s not likely to make the postseason roster, and as much as they’d love to go ahead and let him end on a high note, Owen Murphy’s almost certainly being optioned down tomorrow to bring Robert Suarez from the injured list. If Ritchie’s season is done after this…who starts the season finale on Sunday? Does Atlanta try and piece together a bullpen game from the arms that won’t pitch for them in October? Or do they risk leaving a sour taste in his mouth by asking him to pitch one more time against the Marlins in Miami?
What You’ll Be Talking About
Ronald Acuña Jr’s injury.
The outfielder was lifted in the bottom of the third inning after fouling a ball off his left shin in an unprotected spot between the ankle guard and the knee guards he usually wears.
He immediately hit the ground, in visible pain, as head trainer George Poulis and manager Walt Weiss came out to check on him. After finally getting up, he went to buckle his leg guard in an attempt to continue the at-bat, but after they asked him to briefly walk to test the leg, he was removed from the game. He was able to walk to the dugout and down the steps to the clubhouse without assistance, which was nice.
On a second look, the ball caught a bit of the side of the leg, so perhaps the calf absorbed some of the impact and it wasn’t solely on the shin? X-rays at the ballpark were negative for a fracture, as was a CT scan at an outside facility. The official diagnosis, for now, is a shin bruise, and he’s officially day-to-day.
Obviously, a massive break for the Braves, as Ronald’s become one of the most important hitters for October. He’s hitting over .300 with an OPS over .900 in the last 30 games, something that the current version of Atlanta’s offense can’t afford to lose.
My expectation, assuming things aren’t markedly worse in the morning, is that he likely is held out the rest of this series versus Cincinnati before serving as the designated hitter versus Miami this weekend. (He normally gets some DH time whenever the team’s in Miami, to avoid needing to play the field on their turf.)
And this clearly disrupts the “postseason audition” part of the plan this week - if Ronald’s the designated hitter, the Braves can’t carry both Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin in the lineup. The move there should probably be giving Baldwin a day or two off; he’s not missed a game when healthy, and his 596 PAs is already 150 more than last year’s playing time. Giving Murphy the bulk of this week’s playing time can hopefully help the slugger find his bat before next week’s Wild Card matchup.
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 Braves are back in action tomorrow night, and it’s a Chris Sale day. The veteran needs five innings to qualify for ERA leaderboards, and he’ll face lefty Andrew Abbott (6-11, 4.70) at 7:15 PM ET.