Today's Three Things: Braves set franchise strikeout record in easy win versus Rockies
Spencer Strider and the Braves bullpen had their way with Colorado
The Atlanta Braves struck out a franchise-record nineteen Colorado Rockies en route to an easy 4-1 win in Truist Park on Saturday afternoon.
Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
Atlanta’s second inning.
After loading the bases with no outs in the first and getting only one run out of it, there was reason to be worried about a potential letdown game from Atlanta’s offense.
Ronald Acuña Jr. had other ideas.
After Nick Allen singled to left with two outs in the 2nd inning, Ronald went up and got a 1-2 fastball out of the zone, launching it 410 feet to left at 103.7 off the bat.
Asked by FanDuel Sports Network’s Wiley Ballard after the game if he was specifically looking for the fastball, Ronald explained, “I always stay on the fastball. I’m just looking fastball every pitch and making contact.”
Ronald ended up being responsible for all of Atlanta’s runs in this one, scoring from second on an Austin Riley single in the 5th inning to push the lead to 4-0. After 20 games, he’s hitting .387/.471/.707 with seven homers, 18 runs scored, and 13 RBI and feels like a lock to make the All-Star Game despite the late start to his season.
Today’s Player of the Game
We’ve talked a lot on here and elsewhere about Spencer’s struggles to be as effective with reduced velocity from 2023’s 97.2 mph average. He made a big improvement in that regard today, sitting 1.1 mph above his season average at 96.2 and maxing out at a season-high 98.1 mph.
Having the velocity back really helped the slider play up, as well. While Colorado hitters whiffed seven times on 23 swings at the heater, they whiffed 17 times on 23 swings at the slider and put a grand total of one breaking pitch into play, with Strider putting up a 45% CSW and finishing with 24 whiffs.
His velocity did finally take a small dip in the 6th inning, where he walked Sam Hilliard on four straight fastballs and threw two more heaters out of the zone to Thairo Estrada, none of them at or over 95 mph. But knowing his outing was almost over allowed Strider to reach back and get 95.5 twice in his final two batters, plus breaking out his first two curveballs of the day, to finish with 13 strikeouts for the outing.
Per a note from Atlanta’s comms team, Strider’s thirteen strikeouts tie him with John Smoltz for the most 13+ strikeout starts in franchise history, with five each. Strider did it in his 60th start; the Hall-of-Famer Smoltz did it in his 466th.
What You’ll Be Talking About
The winning streak.
Yes, two were against Colorado. Yes, they’re generationally bad, on pace to win just 30 games in MLB’s 162-game season.
But still, the Braves have won three straight. They’ve gotten great pitching performances in two of those (Wednesday versus Milwaukee and today), while the offense picked up Bryce Elder’s rough start yesterday for a runaway win late.
But a three-game winning streak’s still a three-game winning streak. The victory has Atlanta back in third place in the NL East and just seven games below .500. And while they’re still 13.5 back of division-leading New York, they’ll also face the Mets seven times in the next week and a half.
All I’m saying is there’s a chance. We wrote about that last week, if you want to know more.
What’s Next for the Braves?
The Braves are looking for the sweep on Sunday afternoon. Chris Sale (4-4, 2.79) takes the mound in a battle of the lefties against Austin Gomber, who is making his season debut after being sidelined to start the year with left shoulder soreness.
UPDATE: After publication, news broke that the Braves were tweaking their rotation and pushing Chris Sale back to the Mets series - exactly what we suggested the team do on Thursday when discussing how to get back in contention. Grant Holmes is the new starter for Sunday.
I feel it’s somewhat important to note that while Colorado is just 1-19 against lefty starters this season, the one win came in Coors Field on April 30th against Sale. He pitched seven innings with only two runs allowed while striking out ten, but the Braves mustered only three hits and one run against Chase Dollander and the Rockies pen in a 2-1 loss.
Let’s get a sweep, yeah? Go grab your dad something if you haven’t already.
The concern I have is the same players with the same issues continue to do the same negative things, and those negative things get swept under the rug because overall we won the game, but let's face it, take Ronald Acuna out of the lineup and we would have probably lost, which means the negative things have to be addressed. DH Ozuna strikes out with the bases loaded and no outs in the first inning and that is followed up with Drake Baldwin grounding into an inning ending double play. Albies starts the 2nd by popping out to the shortstop, and Michael Harris follows with a ground ball to 2nd. Nick Allen does get a single which leaves the door open for Ronald to homer, and then Verdugo pops out to 2nd to end that inning. Austin Riley starts the 3rd by striking out on 4 pitches. Olson walks and then DH Ozuna grounds into a double play ending the inning. The 4th is even more anemic with Baldwin, Albies, and Harris all hitting ground balls to first, end of inning. The fifth does produce a run, but the run involves Acuna again. Allen pops out to short for the first out. Acuna singles and advances to 2nd on a bad throw. Verdugo does not advance the runner by grounding out to shortstop. Riley singled and Acuna scored. Matt Olson strikes out to end the inning. The 6th starts with DH Ozuna grounding softly to the pitcher, 1 out. Drake Baldwin does reach on a fielding error, and goes to 2nd on a throwing error. Albies flies out to center and Baldwin advances to 3rd. Harris strikes out stranding Baldwin at 3rd and ending the inning. In the 7th Allen flies out to center, Acuna grounds out to short, Verdugo singles, but Riley strikes out swinging to end the inning. The 8th is quick with Olson flying out to left, DH Ozuna striking out, and Baldwin flying out to left. Now that is the offense portion of the game, and if you remove Acuna from the mix, there probably isn't any offense, which has been the norm for the past 6 weeks, or at the very least there are a bunch more negatives than positives.
On the pitching front, we got to see Strider at his best so far. His fastball did tick up early, he seemed to have more control, and he was able to finish the 6th when the tank was on fumes. Overall, for those Strider diehards (which I am in that group), it was a bit of sunshine with Strider which beforehand there had not been much. I think the best thing with Strider was he showed improvement, which should be a welcome sight to all Braves fans. As a bonus Saturday, Montero had a good outing, a really good outing, and I have been one of the loud complainers about him, so that was a bonus. It was disappointing giving up the run in the 9th. Here is a perfect example of what "defensive indifference" can cause, which was the difference between a shutout and a three run win. I would have preferred the shutout, and have never been a fan of defensive indifference.
A win is a win and Sunday we go for a sweep which is what most of us called for as the series was about to begin. I am of the belief the season was on the line with this series, and hopefully we can close the book Sunday and keep moving forwARD.
Diego Tornes ($2.5 million bonus) had a double and 2 triples for the fiesty, over- achieving Dominican Braves today.