The Atlanta Braves took down the Houston Astros 6-3 on Saturday night in Daikon Park. The win secured the series for the Braves and, when combined with a Philadelphia loss to the Mets, has lowered Atlanta’s magic number to win the NL East to one.
Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
The top of the seventh inning.
Atlanta knocked starter Hayden Wesneski out in the sixth with a Matt Olson RBI single (although Ronald Acuña Jr. was, unfortunately, thrown out at third after he slightly throttled down while going first to third, thinking the throw went home). And in the seventh, the bottom of the order was determined to make something happen.
After a leadoff flyout by Ozzie Albies, the Braves got consecutive singles off of the bats of Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Riley. Sean Murphy then got down 0-2, but battled back to draw an eight-pitch walk, loading the bases.
Houston made a pitching change, with setup man Bryan Abreu being tasked with stranding those baserunners. The first opportunity to cash them in went to Drake Baldwin, but he struck out on four pitches, the last being a slider that elicited a swing despite being well inside.
The next opportunity went to Ronald Acuña Jr., and he did not spoil it. Seeming to work off a full-season scouting report that said Ronald was struggling with four-seamers, versus a more recent one that would reveal he has a .432 xwOBA in September, Abreu fed Ronald two four-seamers. The first was severely up and in, while the second one was out over the plate…and he didn’t miss it.
Ronald’s 6th career grand slam pushed Atlanta into a 5-2 lead, with Mike Yastrzemski’s solo shot in the 8th serving as insurance (and was given back by Dylan Lee in the bottom half of the inning - more on that in a moment).
The grand slam also showed how well Braves Country travels, with one of the alternate camera angles showing just how many Braves fans were sitting behind Houston’s dugout for the matchup.
Today’s Player of the Game
In a shock to no one (and with one of the highest vote totals of the season, 96%), it’s Ronald Acuña Jr.
He’s now in the midst of a three-week heater, hitting .344 with a 1.109 OPS in his last 15 games. Having mostly moved to the second spot in the order, he’s actually driven in more runs (16) then he’s played games in this span.
And amazingly, despite his slow start (.794 OPS before the All-Star Break), his full-season .815 OPS is within striking distance of Matt Olson’s team-leading .835 mark. (This also says something about Olson’s late-season slump, obviously, with the first baseman being at .886 nearly a month ago, but a .598 OPS across his last 30 games will obviously hurt your full-season numbers.)
With this version of Ronald Acuña Jr., it’s easy to see how the Braves can take down anyone in a playoff matchup, especially if they get tonight’s version of the offense - only four strikeouts (opposite four walks) and eleven hits, with five two-out RBI.
What You’ll Be Talking About
Dylan Lee, yet again.
Grant Holmes gave the Braves another Holmes-esque start - six innings with just two runs allowed, but with eight hits opposite just four strikeouts and an average exit velocity allowed of 93 mph.
After Victor Mederos pitched a clean seventh inning, touching 100 mph on a strikeout of Cam Smith, Lee came in for the eighth inning and caused more heart palpitations.
He handled the top of the Houston order rather easily, inducing deep flyouts by Jeremy Peña and Yordan Alvarez, but a two-out walk of Isaac Paredes was the start of his control issues. None of the six pitches Paredes saw were in the strike zone, with five of them nowhere remotely close. Jose Altuve then bunted an elevated slider for a base hit, with it being the second consecutive slider from Lee in the upper third of the strike zone.
Yanier Diaz then got Mike Yastrzemski’s run right back, ripping a 0-1 changeup that caught too much of the zone to left at 108 mph. Lee got out of the inning after that, spamming sliders at pinch-hitter Nelson Velázquez until he struck out, but the exceptionally poor locations after the first two hitters weren’t comforting from Lee as we get ready for postseason baseball.
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 have a chance to sweep Houston, but they’ll have a tall test ahead of them: staff ace Hunter Brown (6-3, 3.43 ERA). The Atlanta starter tasked with going blow-for-blow with Brown will be veteran lefty Martín Pérez (9-9, 3.07), and he’ll get the ball at 2:10 PM ET.