Today's Three Things: Sale Shoves as Braves Win Series on Saturday
The Atlanta Braves prolong Philly's nightmare start to the season with a stunning series loss in Citizens Bank Park
The Atlanta Braves downed the Philadelphia Phillies 3-1 in Citizens Bank Park on Saturday night to capture the series.
Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
In retrospect, it was the top of the third inning.
Atlanta started quietly, with Jorge Mateo and Ronald Acuña Jr. both striking out to start the frame. But after Drake Baldwin rocketed a ground ball back up the middle to get Atlanta a baserunner, the guys behind him capitalized on some rare fortune from the baseball gods.
Ozzie Albies sent a weak dribbler back up the middle…but second baseman Edmundo Sosa, in the lineup over Bryson Stott due to Atlanta having a lefty on the mound, bobbled the ball as he tried to both scoop and step on second base for an error.
After that bit of fortune, the baseball gods were not done shining on the Braves. After Matt Olson walked to load the bases, Austin Riley had what amounted to a swinging bunt to the left side, with starter Cristopher Sánchez unable to make the play and allowing a run to score.
Mauricio Dubón then jumped on a 1-0 changeup, lifting a shallow fly ball to center that Brandon Marsh was unable to corral, leading to two more runs coming across the plate.
While I’ve not seen reporting from the Phillies beat here, my best guess is that Marsh pulled up because of the presence of Sosa running out to try and make the catch. If so, Sosa’s doubly responsible for Atlanta’s runs on Saturday.
Today’s Player of the Game
Receiving 96% of the vote from the viewers of the Braves Postcast, Chris Sale is the winner tonight.
Sale went seven innings, allowing just one run on five hits and one walk, striking out seven. The one run came on the very first pitch he threw to prospect Felix Reyes, who was called up today as a replacement for struggling utilityman Otto Lopez.
Sale struggled a bit early, picking up just four whiffs in the first two innings despite throwing 35 pitches. But he adjusted, ramping up his slider usage the 2nd and 3rd times through the order and introducing the changeup after the first time through. He finished with 14 whiffs and a 32% CSW.
The veteran’s ERA is now 2.79 after the victory and his four wins are one off the MLB lead, held by Angels flamethrower José Soriano.
What You’ll Be Talking About
Walt Weiss’s bullpen decisions in this one.
After Sale finished seven innings, leaving just two innings for the back-end of the bullpen to cover, Weiss zagged a bit. He sent out Dylan Lee for the eighth inning, which forced a right-handed pinch hitter for centerfielder Brandon Marsh.
That’s a bit of an odd decision, as Lee’s actually been better against righties than lefties in the last three seasons, but I’m guessing this is more about Marsh going 0-2 versus a lefty starter so they wanted to get him out of there before facing yet another lefty. Lee got a strikeout of pinch-hitter Dylan Moore before leadoff man Trea Turner lined out and Kyle Schwarber grounded out.
That left the 9th inning, and Weiss decided to give closer Raisel Iglesias the night off and called on Robert Suarez to finish this one off. The flamethrower did, hitting 101 on a strikeout of Bryce Harper en route to his first save of 2026.
We discussed this on the Postcast, and I’m assuming this was a matchup decision - Raisel Iglesias has struggled against Harper in his career, with the Phillies first baseman being six for twelve with four homers off of Atlanta’s closer.
By throwing Lee and Suarez tonight, Atlanta still has a closer available for Sunday night and can lock down a series sweep if the opportunity arises.
UPDATE: The Braves beat in Philly relayed after the game that Iglesias had some shoulder soreness after sleeping wrong and was unavailable tonight, but that they’re hopeful he’ll be back tomorrow.
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?
The finale is Atlanta’s second-consecutive week on NBC’s Sunday Night Baseball. Grant Holmes (1-1, 3.32) will take on prospect Andrew Painter (1-0, 3.77) at 7:20 PM ET.