Today’s Three Things: Michael Harris II and the Bullpen DOMINATE Los Angeles in Win

The most controversial coaching decision of the season pays off in Atlanta’s series-tying win

The Atlanta Braves took down the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 in Dodger Stadium on Sunday evening to even their series at one game each.

Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.

The Turning Point

The bottom of the fifth inning.

Atlanta had just gotten their 2nd run of the game, responding to a Dodgers solo shot in the bottom of the 4th that got them on the board. They almost lost the lead, though - Mookie Betts walked and Shohei Ohtani singled to put two runners on with no outs against Dylan Lee.

Atlanta went to Robert Suarez, taking the first half’s best reliever with rediscovering that form in just his fourth appearance off the injured list. And he did.

Suarez ramped up the velo to 100-101, inducing flyouts of both Will Smith and Freddie Freeman before striking out Teoscar Hernández to retire the side and strand both runners. It was exactly the type of clutch performance that he provided so often in the first half before going down with his elbow problem, and preventing the Dodgers from answering back kept the momentum with the Braves.

Today’s Player of the Game

In a close vote on the Postcast, Michael Harris II won POTG over Didier Fuentes, but we’ll talk about both.

Harris was almost the goat here, spoiling a great scoring opportunity in the first inning. After Atlanta loaded the bases on a Ronald Acuña Jr. single and two walks, Harris had a chance to drive in some runs.

And just like the last time he had an at-bat after two consecutive walks created a scoring opportunity, he swung at the first pitch, which was again off the plate inside, and had an unproductive out - this time it was a routine pop out.

But Harris redeemed himself in this game, finishing a homer shy of the cycle and directly contributing to two of the three runs scored by the Braves tonight. He singled in the third, tripled in the fifth (scoring on a wild pitch), and picking up an RBI double in the 7th inning. He’s had two bad games in this postseason, going 1-9 with two GIDP. The other three games? Six hits, including a homer, four runs, and four RBI.

And Didier Fuentes was the other hero here, being called on to pitch the sixth while it was 2-1. He mowed down Kyle Tucker, Andy Pages, and Max Muncy.

So they asked him to pitch the seventh. He mowed down Tommy Edwan before the lineup turned over and he handled Betts and Ohtani.

So he came back out for the 8th and, once again, handled it. He struck out both Will Smith and Freddie Freeman (credit to Drake Baldwin for a great ABS challenge here) before getting Teoscar Hernández to fly out again.

So guess what? He came back out for the 9th. He almost finished this one off, too, getting quick outs of Tucker and Pages before throwing Max Muncy a 3-2 fastball in the zone instead of going to spin or offspeed. Muncy put it in the seats, narrowing the lead to 3-2, before Raisel Iglesias came in for the two-pitch save to end it.

It was 47 pitches for Fuentes through 3.2 innings, striking out three and getting four groundouts. He mixed all three pitches more than usual, barely breaking 50% fastballs, and allowed only two hard-hit balls in the nine that were put into play. It’s why, as good as he’s been out of the bullpen this season, the team has been insistent that his future is in the rotation.

What You’ll Be Talking About, Part 1: Not Starting Sale

Walt Weiss and his decision to push Chris Sale to Tuesday.

Weiss first hinted that Sale might not start on Friday afternoon, telling reporters (including Braves Today) via conference call that they hadn’t officially decided on Sale as the Sunday starter and it depended on how he felt. Weiss reiterated that after Saturday’s game, and then the team announced on Sunday morning that Ray Kerr would be the opener for a bullpen game. Weiss confirmed that Sale was not overly sore or injured from his relief outing on Thursday, but that they were pushing him to Tuesday for extra rest.

And suffice to say, it was not a popular decision. The general consensus was that it was a mistake, and that even six innings of Sale would go better than a bullpen game possibly could.

About that. The Braves knocked out opposing starter Blake Snell early, with the two-time Cy Young winner allowing one run on three hits and five walks in just 3.2 innings. The main reason he left was pitch count; he was at an incredibly inefficient 90 pitches (just 47 strikes), making this a battle of the bullpens.

And Atlanta’s pen was more up to the task than LA’s.

The Braves used six arms tonight, with Kerr opening (2.2) and Fuentes being pushed for length (3.2) after the duo of Grant Holmes and Dylan Lee faced a combined nine batters and allowed a run on three hits and two walks, recording only four outs.

LA, meanwhile, threw seven different bullpen arms and had closer Tanner Scott up and ready for the 9th, in case they tied it up late. While the individual reliever usage isn’t overly prohibitive for LA’s pitching plan on Tuesday, it does give Braves hitters either a first or second look (Evan Phillips, Brock Stewart) at the relievers they’ll face somewhere in the next two games. That exposure and familiarity matters, and helps to somewhat even things with Atlanta’s bullpen exposure from the first two games of the series.

And so now, the Braves are heading home with the ability to throw both Sale and Mahle in games three and four, somewhat minimizing LA’s starting pitcher advantage with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow. It’s a recipe for an upset, as long as the offense can carry their weight on the run-scoring front.

What You’ll Be Talking About, Part 2: The Offense

But for the offense to carry their weight, some of the stars need to do more.

I’ve been particularly disappointed in Ronald Acuña Jr. this postseason, and that continued tonight. While he did have one of Atlanta’s six hits, a single in the first inning, he’s consistently had opportunities to score in this postseason and hasn’t done anything with them.

The egregious one tonight was in the eighth inning. With command-deficient flamethrower Roki Sasaki coming in the game for LA, Rowdy Tellez worked a leadoff walk and Austin Riley was hit by a pitch.

Atlanta then made a terrible strategic decision, gifting a struggling pitcher an out by having Yastrzemski bunt them pinch-runner Brewer Hicklen and Riley to 2nd and 3rd.

And as bad as that was, Ronald’s following at-bat was even worse, especially given the fact that once Sasaki got behind to Drake Baldwin, they intentionally walked him to get to Acuña.

Ronald fouled off an in-zone fastball and took a splitter in before a mistake pitch, an in-zone splitter knee-high and on the inner third. But instead of launching it into orbit, a la Jorge Soler, he beat it into the ground in what became an inning-ending double play. It was hard-hit, sure - 106.8 mph off the bat - but when it hits the ground 8 feet in front of the plate, it becomes a routine ground ball for a professional second baseman like Tommy Edman.

This postseason, Ronald’s 3-for-18 with three walks, three strikeouts, and no extra-base hits. He’s scored runs in four of the team’s five games, sure, often stealing bases (three on the postseason) to put himself into position, but it’s not the performance this team either needs or expects from one of their most talented and gifted players.

He’s not the only struggling ‘aircraft carrier’, mind you - Matt Olson’s 3-19 with seven strikeouts and Drake Baldwin’s 3-19 with 4 punchies - but it’s the most glaring because he’s the player most capable of taking over a series, and he’s done anything but that through the first five games.

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’s heading back home, where they’ll throw Chris Sale (14-9, 2.16 ERA) against Yoshinobu Yamamoto (14-9, 2.53 ERA) on Tuesday at 6 PM ET.