Today's Three Things: Braves Push Win Streak to Double Digits With Win Over Nationals
The current ten game winning streak is Atlanta's longest since the 2022 season
The Atlanta Braves took down the Washington Nationals 3-2 in Truist Park on Tuesday night.
Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
Washington’s best opportunity to get back in this game was the top of the eighth inning. With lefty Dylan Lee coming into the game, young slugger James Wood launched a hanging, full-count slider into the right-center field seats to make the score 3-2 Washington.
While Lee’s had an issue with homers in the back half of the schedule - this was the seventh he’s allowed in just 26 innings - this one’s understandable. This season, Wood is tied with New York Mets slugger Juan Soto for the third-most left-on-left home runs this season with 11. Only Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (14) and Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (22) have more this season.
But Lee buckled down and got out of the inning, striking out CJ Abrams and Daylen Lyle before getting Luis García Jr. to fly out.
Today’s Player of the Game
Money Mike launched two homers today, combining with yesterday’s trio of stolen bases to put him on the verge of his first career 20/20 season. Harris finished with 20 stolen bases in each of his first two seasons, although he had just 19 and 18 homers in those two years. He sits at 19 of each with four games left in the season.
Several Braves are actually approaching or have now achieved round numbers for some of their counting stats. Ronald Acuña Jr’s 6th inning solo shot pushed him to 20 home runs on the season, coming in just 323 at-bats (so it’s roughly a 40-homer pace for a full season). Matt Olson’s at 28 homers and 93 RBI, so it’s possible but unlikely that he gets both of these.
What You’ll Be Talking About
Hurston Waldrep, who allowed one run while striking out five in his six innings, albeit with five hits and four walks.
Manager Brian Snitker confirmed after the game that Waldrep’s season is officially over; he enters the offseason with a 2.88 ERA after a combined 148 innings between Triple-A and the majors this year. The workload appeared to be getting to Waldrep in his last few starts, with his strike rate dropping into the low 50 percent and walking eleven in his final 20.2 innings (as compared to eleven walks in his first 35.2 innings).
But Snitker thinks these experiences are learning opportunities, with Snit explaining his reasoning in 2023 in the context of Bryce Elder: “Down the stretch there, it probably took its toll on him, and [all young pitchers] go through that. Until you do it, you don’t know how to do it. Now he has a better understanding of what he’s in for, so I expect him to have a really good year.”
After the game, Waldrep said that he thinks his workload was fine, although he needs some time to process the season that was after everyone leaves town next Sunday. “I think I’m exactly where I need to be, no more, no less. I won’t really be able to reflect on everything until I get home and kind of sit in the woods for a little while or go sit on a tractor for a couple hours and really decompress.”1
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 win.
What’s Next for the Braves?
Atlanta has one more game in this series ahead of them, with a victory cementing a ten-win season against the Nationals. Bryce Elder (8-10, 5.36) gets the ball opposite Andrew Alvarez (1-1, 2.84) at 12:15 PM ET.
With Waldrep being from the Cairo/Thomasville area of Southwest Georgia, there’s likely to be either peanuts or cotton in front of that tractor.