Today's Three Things: Braves offense rallies to blow out Rockies
Atlanta obliterated the Colorado bullpen en route to blowout victory in game one
The Atlanta Braves got multiple big hits against the Colorado Rockies to take game one, 12-4, in Truist Park on Friday night.
Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
The bottom of the 6th. Having finally gotten the inexplicably dominant Germán Márquez out of the game and down 3-1, Atlanta’s offense got to work against Colorado’s top reliever in Jake Bird.
Matt Olson ripped a double to left, but Bird rallied to get a Marcell Ozuna pop out and Ozzie Albies strikeout.
He didn’t get Sean Murphy. The big backstop drew a walk, with both runners then advancing into scoring position on a wild pitch. The hope here was that Atlanta could repeat their first-inning run, where Matt Olson’s sac fly scored Ronald Acuña Jr. from third and got Atlanta on the board.
Turns out, Michael Harris II didn’t care where the runners were. He pulled his hands in on an elevated slider, belt high and on the inner third, and launched it into the Chop House for a three-run homer that tied the game.
Inexplicably, it was Atlanta’s first three-run homer since April 23rd. The momentum proved to be real, with Atlanta adding three more runs in the 7th on a Marcell Ozuna three-run shot of his own, and then exploded for five more in the 8th.
The biggest thing for me in the eighth was doing it without a homer, instead getting multiple hits with runners in scoring position to score the five runs in the frame. You can’t always count on blasting longballs against the much-better relievers of the Mets and Phillies next week, but hits with RISP always conveys.
On a night where Bryce Elder struggled (more on that later) and Atlanta looked to be heading towards a disastrous loss, Harris’s homer was the catalyst for an offensive explosion.
Today’s Player of the Game
Give me Ronald Acuña Jr., yet again.
Ronald had three hits in this one, for the third straight game, as well as a walk in the 8th that resulted in another Braves run. His fourth batted ball was absolutely ripped to right at 112.7 off the bat, but Jordan Beck made a great running catch (surprising himself) to ruin the .750 xBA hit attempt.
Ronald was also credited with a stolen base, his first attempt of the season, although it appeared to be more of a hit-and-run situation than a true steal. Still, seeing Ronald in motion was definitely a good thing. Between the stolen base and his accelerating to score on a moderate depth sacrifice fly (beating a strong Brenton Doyle throw) was a welcome sight for anyone worried about his speed not being fully back after his second career ACL surgery.
What You’ll Be Talking About
With all due respect to the offense, several folks on both social media and the Postcast have already been talking about Bryce Elder.
He clearly did not have it tonight, leaving early in this one after just three and a third innings. The issue appeared to be his sinker tonight - he threw 37 of them (53% usage) but landed less than 40% of them in the strike zone. Elder apparently knew he didn’t have it early, either, giving up first-inning hits on a slider (Hunter Goodman single) and a changeup (Ryan McMahon homer) after getting behind in the count.
His final line was four runs on seven hits, with three walks and two hit batters against just two strikeouts.
Manager Brian Snitker initially let him face the lineup for a third time, but after a strikeout and back-to-back singles, pulled him in favor of Aaron Bummer.
Honestly, Snitker deserved a lot of credit in this game. Needing to cover more than five innings with his pen, he was aggressive at using some of the leverage relievers early, with Bummer in the fourth and Pierce Johnson in the fifth. He was then able to navigate Johnson’s leadoff single in the sixth, making the aggressive change to Dylan Dodd to finish off the inning. With an assist to Spencer Schwellenbach, whose complete game on Wednesday let Atlanta give the pen two days off, Snit pulled the right levers to navigate through a short start by Elder and get the rested pen through the outing without any more runs scored by Colorado despite their seven hits off the bullpen.
What’s Next for the Braves?
The Braves are hoping the weather holds out for Saturday’s scheduled 4:10 start - Spencer Strider (0-5, 5.40) takes the mound opposite Chase Dollander (2-6, 6.85 ERA).