Today's Three Things: Braves use big flys to down Angels in late rally
The Atlanta Braves just scored the most runs in one inning since Opening Day of LAST SEASON
The Atlanta Braves took down the Los Angeles Angels 8-3 in Truist Park on Wednesday night.
Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
The bottom of the 6th inning.
Down 2-0 after LA jumped on Braves starter Didier Fuentes in the first inning, Atlanta started the 6th inning the wrong way - two consecutive groundouts, coming from Austin Riley and Marcell Ozuna.
The newly reinstated Jurickson Profar had other ideas, however.
He promptly singled off an inside fastball, with countryman Ozzie Albies shooting an outside fastball the other way for his own base hit. LA had seen enough, removing starter Yusei Kikuchi for reliever Ryan Zeferjahn.
Wrong move.
Sean Murphy ambushed Zeferjahn’s first-pitch cutter for a three-run homer, his third homer of the last four games, to give Atlanta the lead.
But Atlanta wasn’t done.
A single and two walks set the stage for Matt Olson, who turned on an inside fastball and just barely got it over the Chop House wall, notching Atlanta’s second grand slam in the last four games (after not having one for the season until Saturday).
It was only 92.2 mph off the bat and 358 feet, holding an expected batting average of .070, but it was enough to just squeak out of Truist Park and stake Atlanta to a 7-2 lead.
Today’s Player of the Game
Matt Olson.
Atlanta’s first baseman finished with three hits, including the aforementioned grand slam, pushing his season average up to .267. But in the short term, he’s been even better - a .321 average across his last 30 games and a .379 in the last seven. While the rest of the lineup, including Ronald Acuña Jr., has been slumping, Olson’s been on an absolute heater.
What You’ll Be Talking About
The dynamic with the catchers.
Drake Baldwin is one of those bats that has slowed down, hitting just .200 across his last 30 games. But he’s still one of the best hitters on this team and the quality of his at-bats continues to be exceptional. Veteran Sean Murphy, meanwhile, is on a heater, hitting three homers with eight RBI across the team’s last four games.
Meanwhile, Marcell Ozuna went 0-2 with two walks tonight, lowering his season average to a shockingly low .242 and his average over the last 30 games to just .184.
Despite all of that, manager Brian Snitker said after the game that he doesn’t expect both Baldwin and Murphy to share a lineup anytime soon, per 680 The Fan’s Brady Penn. It feels like Atlanta will need to add a third catcher to the roster before the coaching staff is comfortable using both catchers in the same lineup, given that taking one out of the DH spot to cover an injury behind the plate sacrifices the designated hitter for the rest of the game under current league rules.
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 loss.
What’s Next for the Braves?
Atlanta’s looking to take the series tomorrow in the finale. Bryce Elder (2-5, 5.82) gets the start opposite righty José Soriano (5-5, 3.99) at 7:15 PM ET.