Today's Three Things: JR Ritchie Shines in Atlanta's Series Win
The Atlanta Braves took down the Washington Nationals 7-2 on Thursday afternoon in Nationals Park to win their series, three games to one.
Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
The Braves put this one away in the 7th inning.
With the game tied 2-2 and setup man Cionel Pérez entering the game, the Braves played some small ball to get Atlanta some insurance runs. Drake Baldwin drew a one-out walk on four pitches, advancing to third on Matt Olson’s single up the middle. After Austin Riley drew his own walk to load the bases, Washington called on co-closer Gus Varland to shut down Atlanta’s rally.
He did anything but.
He uncorked a wild pitch, with Baldwin alertly coming in to score from third, before Ozzie Albies ripped a laser to right to score both Olson and Riley and push the lead to three. Michael Harris then alertly took advantage of a hanging slider, sending an absolute rocket to the right-center gap and allowing Ozzie to score all the way from third on the throw. The double had a price, though, with Harris feeling tightness in his left quad and after he and Dom Smith were stranded on base by a strikeout and a pop out, Harris was pulled from the game for precautionary reasons.
Harris discussed the move after the game, saying he felt okay and plans to play on Friday night at home. “It was a little tightness and I didn’t want to have to go later in the game and have to make a real jump and make it worse. […] It’s still early in the season and we had a lead right there.”
Today’s Player of the Game
The youngster was taken deep by Washington leadoff man James Wood on his very first pitch, with a middle-middle 93 mph fastball being punished by the slugger.
But that was precisely the ‘lock-in’ moment Ritchie needed. He allowed just one more run the rest of the way, finishing seven innings with two runs on five hits, walking two, and striking out seven. Per the Braves, Ritchie’s the first player in franchise history with at least seven innings, seven or more strikeouts, and two or fewer runs in his major league debut.
It wasn’t all perfect, mind you - Ritchie gave up two solo homers and recorded just 9 whiffs. His four-seam fastball mostly didn’t miss any bats, recording only one whiff and of the seventeen batted balls put into play off of him, eight were over 100 mph.
That being said, Ritchie was able to get groundball outs when he needed them, recording six (and getting a double play in the process), and never appeared rattled on the mound. He’s uniquely prepared to be able to give the Braves length out of the back of the rotation, and while it’s currently unknown if they’ll keep him on the big league roster or send him back down to Gwinnett for roster and depth reasons, he’s played more than well enough to earn another start in the majors.
What You’ll Be Talking About
Atlanta’s offense.
It was a slow day at the plate for both Ronald Acuña Jr. and Drake Baldwin, who combined for four strikeouts and only two hits, a walk, and a run in 10 plate appearances.
But after the leadoff duo, the middle of the lineup came to play. Matt Olson went 3-5 with a double and two runs scored, while Austin Riley had a double, a walk, and scored twice. Ozzie Albies had a great game, going 3-4 with a solo homer in the 9th as well as scoring twice and driving in four. Michael Harris II continued his hot series with three hits (one was a double) and two RBI before being pulled in the seventh with the quad injury. Even Dom Smith picked up two singles, although he was stranded on base every time.
The top and the bottom of the order may have struggled with Nationals starter Cade Cavalli, with Mauricio Dubón striking out three times and the OF platoon of Eli White and Mike Yastrzemski going 0-4 with two strikeouts, but when the middle four or five are hitting ‘to the back of their baseball cards’, this feels like the best offense in baseball.
And if Ronald Acuña Jr. gets going sometime soon? Look out.
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 win/loss.
What’s Next for the Braves?
Atlanta’s flying home for a three-game set with the Philadelphia Phillies in Truist Park. Here are the matchups for the series:
Fri: Grant Holmes (1-1, 3.42) vs Andrew Painter (1-1, 4.42)
Sat: Bryce Elder (3-1, 1.50) vs Zack Wheeler (2026 debut)
Sun: Chris Sale (4-1, 2.79) vs Aaron Nola (1-2, 5.06)
To me, Ritchie was very impressive and against a good hitting team. Great assortment of pitches and showing genuine poise. Lopez was non-competitive in his last start and whereas he undoubltedly will get one more try, I would not complain if Ritchie replaced him in the rotation.