The Atlanta Braves took down the Colorado Rockies 6-4 in Truist Park on Friday night.
Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
It was the fifth inning tonight.
Atlanta entered the frame with a comfortable 4-0 lead, but Colorado got some great BABIP luck on Grant Holmes.
Starting with the #8 hitter Zac Veen, the Rockies ripped out four singles and a sacrifice fly in five batters, scoring three runs. While the results look bad on Grant’s line, I’m not convinced it actually was that bad.
All four of the singles had negative launch angles, but happened to be placed really well. Two were up the middle, splitting the gap between Ozzie Albies and the bag, while one shot down the right-field line past a diving Matt Olson and the other took a bad hop on Mauricio Dubón while also getting through Ha-Seong Kim, who was backing him up on the play. One has an expected batting average of .070, while another was at just .190, but all four made it through.
Owing to the 26 pitches he threw in the frame, Holmes was done after five, having allowed three runs on eight hits (all singles) with one walk and three strikeouts.
But the Braves were able to respond well, with Ronald Acuña Jr. opening the bottom of the fifth with a first-pitch double off the right-field wall (off a four-seam fastball, too!) and being driven in just three pitches later by Michael Harris II.
It’s the third straight game that the Braves have faced a splitter-dominant starter, and the second straight game that they’ve capitalized on one of those splitters in the heart of the zone with a shot into The Chop House.
Today’s Player of the Game
With roughly 50% of the vote, it was Acuña beating out Harris (40%) for the award on the postcast.
Just one day after getting a day off for a “mental reset”, per Walt Weiss, Acuña was back in right field, but at cleanup in the batting order.
He responded with perhaps his best game of the season.
Acuña went 3-3, scoring three times. Harris drove him in the 2nd after a leadoff walk, Dubón drove him in after a single in the 3rd, and then coming in on Harris’ 5th-inning homer.
He was just a fraction of a mph away from three hard-hit balls to do it, too, with his 94.7 mph single in the 3rd being followed by a 108.3 mph double off the right field wall and a 110.8 mph single.
But what stood out the most to me was a defensive play he made in the 7th inning. With a runner on first for reliever Ray Kerr, centerfielder Cole Carrig hit a flare down the right field line, a foul ball that was going to harmlessly bounce off the turf and into the seats.
Except it didn’t.
(Didn’t that slide look fun?)
Ronald covered 114 feet in those five-ish seconds, hitting a top speed of 30.1 ft/sec to do it.
And that 30 ft/sec mark is a big one to break, because it is MLB’s definition of a “bolt”, a speed that only the best runners can meet on a regular basis. Early in his career, before the knee injuries, Ronald did it all the time: 49 in 2018, and 43 in 2019.
He was still good for 18-20 a season after his first knee injury, but the second ACL has been a bit more deleterious to his ability to hit top speed, with Ronald hitting 30 ft/sec a combined four times over the last three seasons.
The fifth time was tonight.
If Ronald’s able to both produce 108 mph exit velocities (in the air) off of four-seamers and reach back to find that top speed we’ve so rarely seen after the second knee injury, that’s a whole different ballgame.
What You’ll Be Talking About
The budding resurgence of Acuña and Sean Murphy.
We’ve already covered Acuña, but Murphy continued his recent surge back to his former All-Star form tonight. The catcher had three exit velocities over 100 mph tonight, finishing with a double and a single, while driving in one and scoring once.
That’s now a home run and two doubles in Murphy’s last three games, with three runs scored and two RBI. It’s also now a five-game on-base streak for the slugging backstop, too.
And if both of them can keep the bats going, it gives the Braves significantly more offensive length in the lineup, as well as options going forward. Drake Baldwin can continue working as the designated hitter, something Walt Weiss said earlier this week they wanted to try and keep his legs fresh for October. If Ha-Seong Kim can keep riding the wave of confidence from his Wednesday walkoff - he got a second consecutive start tonight, going 0-3 - that allows manager Walt Weiss to continue using Mauricio Dubón for load management. Austin Riley got the night off on Friday, with Dubón covering third base, and both Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II have gotten days off thanks to Dubón this month.
More importantly, it gives the team more options against left-handers. Acuña has a career .875 OPS versus left-handed pitching, a figure that rises to .905 against lefty starters. Murphy, even in his rough 2025 season, still maintained an OPS over .800 against southpaws.
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?
The Braves are looking to win the series early on Saturday, with veteran lefty Martín Pérez (8-8, 3.12 ERA) getting the ball opposite Ryan Feltner (5-8, 6.08) at 4:10 PM ET.
It has been fun watching the last 5 games. Agree the production from Acuna and Murphy really helps. The bullpen is still stretched too thin but WW seems to be navigating the stormy seas adequately. Big test next weekend in Philly.
I would love to think this is the resurgence proposed. In post game talk on tv they mentioned that Acuna was a good 8"-12" further away from the plate tonight that his previous game. I thought, "great catch, guys"! So he IS being coached. Then when Acuna and Harris were interviewed later someone ask Acuna about the 8"-12" foot placement change in his batting stance. Acuna, with a completely blank look on his face, said (basically), "No, I didn't change my batting stance." Next question! Maybe just Ronald being Ronald!