Today's Three Things: Braves carry over offensive onslaught into final game of the series
The Braves win big behind a great start from Joey Wentz and five homers from the offense
Joey Wentz dominates and Jurickson Profar (2), Matt Olson, Michael Harris II, and Ozzie Albies all homer as the Atlanta Braves defeat the Miami Marlins 12-1 to win the series.
Here are Today’s Three Things.
The Turning Point
The top of the third.
After entering the inning leading 1-0, Atlanta had the top of their lineup due up. Jurickson Profar drew a leadoff walk which gave way to a Matt Olson 426-foot homer to straightaway centerfield. This was Olson’s first homer since August 10th.
However, the fireworks were not done just yet. Ronald Acuna Jr. was hit by the very next pitch from Ryan Gusto, resulting in the benches clearing and Braves manager Brian Snitker being ejected.
Drake Baldwin then walked, giving way to scorching hot Ozzie Albies.
The second baseman turned on a middle-middle fastball, resulting in a 107 mph missile down the right field line, his third homer in the last two games.
This put the Braves up 6-0, propelling them to yet another series win over the Miami Marlins.
Today’s Player of the Game
Jurickson Profar again.
We may need to rename this section “the Jurickson Profar Player of the Game Award.” The left fielder only had three at-bats today due to three walks, but boy, did he make the most of them.
Two of these three at-bats resulted in big flies. The first was a leadoff laser off of Marlins starter Ryan Gusto, just barely sneaking over the right field wall. The second homer did not sneak over the wall, but instead was a second-deck no-doubter on the thirteenth pitch of the at-bat. You can add two RBI and four runs to the stat line.
This is also the first time an Atlanta Brave has had a two-home run, three-base-on-ball performance since Gary Roenicke did it in 1987.
What You’ll Be Talking About
Yesterday’s player of the game, Ozzie Albies.
We’ve talked at length about the struggles of Albies, even discussing what it looks like for the Braves to move on from him. So now we’re going to try and pay him his flowers.
After a three extra-base hit game yesterday, where he took some very confident swings, some were saying the second baseman may be coming into form. Today, he kept it going.
The second baseman went 2-5 with a three-run homer and a two RBI single. That makes his stats the last two days: 5-10, 3 homers, one double, nine RBI, and fifteen TB’s, with just one strikeout. Sure, it’s a small sample size, but also Albies’ best two-game stretch of the season.
So now we pose the questions: Could the second baseman FINALLY be coming to form? Could the wrist be starting to feel better? I’m not sure. However, these last few weeks could tell us a lot about the second baseman and his future with the organization.
Looking for more discussion about this game?
Here’s Lindsay, doing a solo Postcast over on Locked On Sports Atlanta after the win.
What’s Next for the Braves?
The Braves will make the trek up the East Coast to Philadelphia to begin a four-game set. Here are the probable pitchers:
Thursday: Cal Quantrill (4-11, 5.51 ERA) vs. Aaron Nola (2-7, 6.52 ERA) Friday: Bryce Elder (5-9, 6.12 ERA) vs. Ranger Suárez (10-6, 3.07 ERA) Saturday: Chris Sale (5-4, 2.52 ERA) vs. Cristopher Sánchez (11-5, 2.66 ERA) Sunday: Hurston Waldrep (4-0, 0.90 ERA) vs. Jesús Luzardo (12-6, 4.23 ERA)