Today's Three Things: Braves Walked Off In Extras, But May Have Found a Quality Starter
The Atlanta Braves got a fantastic start from an unexpected source
The Atlanta Braves were walked off by the Kansas City Royals in the 10th inning, losing game three 1-0 and dropping the series on Wednesday afternoon in Kauffman Stadium.
Here’s Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
Yes the Braves lost the game in the bottom of the 10th, but their best opportunity to win the game came in the top of the sixth.
Facing setup man Hunter Harvey, tasked with this inning in KC’s bullpen game, Nick Allen led off with a single on a fastball above the zone. It was a good piece of hitting - he shot it through the right side. Jurickson Profar followed that up with an opposite-field hit of his own, popping a center-cut curveball to left to put two on with no outs for the Braves.
Atlanta did nothing with it. Matt Olson went for an elevated 3-2 fastball and just missed it, sending a liner to center that was right at Kyle Isbel and not deep enough to allow Allen to advance to third. Austin Riley followed that up with a pop-up on an inside fastball - it was a rough at-bat for Riley all around, swinging over a slider well below the zone before popping up on an inside heater that should have been ball two. Newly minted cleanup man Michael Harris cemented the wasted opportunity with a groundout to second base, trying to get out in front of a 1-2 slider off the plate that he thought was going to be a strike.
More thoughts on the offense later.
Today’s Player of the Game
The former first-round pick (2017) from Shawnee Mission East High School, just fifteen miles from Kauffman Stadium, had a lot of family and friends show up for his homecoming...and he showed out for them.
Wentz went six and two-thirds scoreless innings, allowing just one hit (on the first batter of the game) and walking three while striking out seven. It was the second-longest start of his career, surpassing a pair of six-inning outings back in 2023 while with the Detroit Tigers and being tied with his third career start in September of 2022.
As it’s been his entire time in Atlanta, it was the cutter that was the key here. He led with it, throwing 43 of them, and while he allowed eight to be put into play, the average exit velocity off of them was just 80.8 mph. It picked up six whiffs on 25 swings and allowed both the fastball (12 swings, 4 whiffs) and curveball (11 swings, 3 whiffs and only 1 put into play) to get him out of jams.
The bullpen deserves honorable mention here. Kansas City’s final at-bat today, a walkoff single by Salvador Perez in the 10th, was the first time all game they had an-bat with a runner in scoring position. Just an excellent job by the Braves pitching staff of not allowing a struggling offense that had a bit of recent success carry that momentum into the finale.
What You’ll Be Talking About
Atlanta’s lineup. Michael Harris was the cleanup hitter for just the second time in his career, while Eli White got the first start in place of an injured Ronald Acuña Jr. Per sources I spoke with today, later confirmed by manager Brian Snitker, White’s going to continue to be the everyday rightfielder and Jarred Kelenic is expected to get backup work only - it will not be a platoon unless poor performance from White dictates a more even distribution of playing time.
Kelenic entered this game in the 10th, replacing Marcell Ozuna as the automatic runner/Manfred Man at second base to start the extra frame. He advanced to third base on Atlanta’s first hit with a runner in scoring position, an Ozzie Albies leadoff single, but the Braves were unable to bring him in.
Looking for more discussion about this game?
Here’s today’s Postcast, hosted solo, where I went live to break down the loss.
What’s Next for the Braves?
The Braves are off to Cincinnati, with the three-game set starting tomorrow in Great American Small Ball Park and ending on Saturday night in Bristol Motor Speedway. Here are the pitching matchups:
Thursday: Carlos Carrasco (2-2, 5.91 w/ Yankees) versus Andrew Abbott (8-1, 2.09)
Friday: Bryce Elder (4-7, 6.29) versus Brady Singer (8-8, 4.60)
Saturday: Spencer Strider (5-8, 3.71) versus Chase Burns (0-3, 6.26)