Today's Three Things: Braves Sweep the Nationals Behind the Long Ball

The Atlanta Braves got the elusive four game sweep thanks to a few timely home runs and dominant relief pitching

The Atlanta Braves took down the Washington Nationals 4-2 in Truist Park on Sunday afternoon to secure a four-game sweep of their divisional rival. The win pushes Atlanta to 67-45 on the year, a .598 winning percentage that’s third best in all of baseball.

Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.

The Turning Point

The fourth inning.

Youngster JR Ritchie had gotten through the first three innings of his start with just two singles and a hit allowed, but things spiraled on him in the fourth. Keibert Ruiz started the inning with a line drive single on a 2-0 sinker, one left down in the zone but over the heart of the plate. Ritchie then nibbled around the zone, trying to get #7 hitter José Tena to chase, but walked him on five pitches. After a strikeout of Nasim Nuñez, Ritchie gave up a single to load the bases and brought in a run when he hit #9 hitter Andres Chaparro.

Ritchie gave up a second run on a James Wood sacrifice fly, and honestly he was lucky - he hung a 3-2 curveball and Wood launched it at 108.4 mph, but with a 44° launch angle, it was caught at the wall instead of being a grand slam. Ritchie then got a groundout on a changeup to end the inning, a notable rebound to keep the inning from spiraling into a disaster.

And Matt Olson immediately repaid Ritchie for not blowing up. Opening the bottom of the fourth inning, he launched a 2-1 inside cutter into The Chop House, tying the game at two each. Even though the Braves didn’t score anymore in the frame, this homer was apparently enough for Walt Weiss to decide to chase the win, pulling Ritchie after 81 pitches and deploying his leverage arms.

Today’s Player of the Game

With the lowest vote total for a POTG award of the season, it’s Mike Yastrzemski, who got 38% of the vote to Matt Olson’s 33%.

Yastrzemski came through twice in this game, accounting for half of Atlanta’s runs. Yaz put Atlanta on the board in the third, taking Cade Cavalli deep to open the inning. He then got the final Braves run of the day, hitting a sacrifice fly in the seventh to score Mauricio Dubón. It’s the continuation of a multi-month heater for Yastrzemski, one that has seen him put up a .848 OPS versus right-handed pitching since May 12th. When you combine that with Lane Thomas having a .800 OPS vs left-handed pitching this season, it’s a better on-paper outfield pairing than the dynamic 2023 duo of Eddie Rosario (.762 OPS vs RHP) and Kevin Pillar (.735 OPS vs LHP).

The roster dynamic will be interesting here, as well. Thomas needs to be added to the roster by Tuesday, while shortstop Ha-Seong Kim’s injury rehab assignment ended last night and he needs to be added by Monday. More on these roster machinations coming tomorrow morning.

What You’ll Be Talking About

For me, it’s the pitching today.

Ritchie allowed two runs on four hits in his four innings, walking three and striking out four. Once again, he struggled with all three aspects: missing bats (just six whiffs), throwing strikes (45 strikes in 81 pitches), and minimizing hard contact (seven of his 12 batted balls were hard-hit, and he overall allowed an average exit velocity of 91.9 mph.

But behind Ritchie, the bullpen was amazing.

Dylan Dodd came in for the fifth and retired the side in order, striking out one. His sinker/cutter pairing (which is really a 4S/slider based on movement) got a strikeout and the two batted balls allowed were 76.2 mph and 82.3 mph.

Didier Fuentes then came in for the sixth and seventh, striking out four of the six batters he faced while pumping almost predominantly high-90s fastballs past hitters (five whiffs). While he still needs offseason work on his secondaries to move back into the rotation, he’s been used more frequently in multi-inning outings, which will be beneficial in October. Dylan Lee and Raisel Iglesias closed out the 8th and 9th with one walk and one strikeout each.

If the organization gets Robert Suarez back and adds a high-leverage reliever to the pen for the stretch run, this has the potential to not only be a weapon in the postseason, but potentially one of the best bullpens the Braves have had during this championship window.

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?

Atlanta (mercifully) has their first off day since the All-Star Break on Monday, followed by a home series against the Marlins. The Braves will throw Chris Sale, Grant Holmes, and Bryce Elder in the three-game set at Truist Park.