The Atlanta Braves took down the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 in Truist Park on Thursday afternoon to avoid being swept in the three-game series.
Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
The bottom of the 8th inning.
With top setup man Kevin Kelly taking the ball, Tampa Bay was hoping to keep the game scoreless for Junior Caminero, who was set to lead off the 9th.
The Braves had other ideas.
Pinch-hitter Ozzie Albies had a one-out triple, coming on a 1-2 fastball up that just clipped the top of the zone. It was an odd choice by Kelly, as Ozzie will swing practically anywhere. It was also an odd defensive play from centerfielder Cedric Mullins, who came too close to the bricks and saw the ball rebound high off the wall and over his head, allowing Ozzie to continue on to third.
And that changed the entire inning.
Ozzie was driven in by an Austin Riley ground ball through the right side, one that’s probably an out if the infield is playing at normal depth instead of playing in to keep Albies from scoring. Mike Yastrzemski then got a ground-rule double to right that ends up being a bad beat for the Braves - Riley had a great jump on it and would have scored, but he was required to go back to third after the ball went over the short side wall in right field.
No matter - the drawn-in infield wasn’t able to corral a Ha-Seong Kim shot back up the middle, with both Riley and Yaz scoring to push Atlanta’s lead to 3-0.
And that insurance hit by Kim was important, as closer Raisel Iglesias would successfully get Caminero to ground out to open the 9th before giving up a solo shot to Victor Mesa Jr. Iglesias played with everyone’s blood pressure by walking speedster Chandler Simpson before getting a strikeout and groundout to end it
Today’s Player of the Game
Even by his usual standards, this was a great game - he went seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits (all singles) and two walks while striking out four. Three of those four hits came in the very first inning, before Pérez used an elevated sinker to force a 3-2-3 double play on the speedy Simpson to get out of the jam.
And even in the context of a Rays team that doesn’t take a lot of power swings, this was a great job of contact management for Pérez. He allowed an average EV of just 78.8 mph and only two of the 20 batted balls against him were hard-hit.
He finished the 6th with an insanely acrobatic play to spoil a bunt attempt from Simpson, charging the ball between the mound and 3rd and making some sort of leaping-twist-and-throw to get Simpson. And it wasn’t easy - Simpson’s home-to-first time was an absurdly elite 3.66 seconds, a 99th-percentile mark in baseball this season.
It’s beginning to look like the pairing of Pérez and Grant Holmes are Atlanta’s key to a game three postseason start, with the guy getting the ball first likely coming down to matchups.
What You’ll Be Talking About
Rays manager Kevin Cash, who pulled his pitcher early.
I don’t mean by inning; Martinez left the game in the seventh, with Cash going to lefty Cam Booser to face Matt Olson and Michael Harris II.
No, I mean by pitch count - Martinez was at only 68 pitches when Cash went to the bullpen. And they were a dominant 68 pitches, as Martinez had allowed just two hits (both singles) with no walks. And it’s not like Martinez was getting hit hard, either, as his average exit velocity allowed was a mere 81.8 mph and he had allowed only four hard-hit balls in his 17 BBEs.
It’s not like this is that unprecedented for Tampa to do, as they famously pulled Blake Snell out of Game Six of the 2020 World Series despite the lefty being at just 73 pitches after five and a third innings with two hits and nine strikeouts. Cash reportedly said he was doing it because Mookie Betts was set to come to the plate a third time, but the outcome didn’t work out for Cash - Nick Anderson gave up a double, threw a game-tying wild pitch, and got tagged for an RBI groundout that gave LA their first lead of the game, 2-1.
Cash said after the game that he took Martinez out to get a lefty in there, as well as to make the Braves “see a different arm”. It’s the definition of making a change before you needed to, and it prevented the Braves from getting swept.
Unfortunate injury news
Lane Thomas, who was scratched shortly before the game with tightness in his side, is going on the injured list with an intercostal strain, per Walt Weiss. There’s no official timetable as of now, but with the first postseason roster being due in about three and a half weeks, there’s not a ton of time for the outfielder to get back from anything but the mildest form of strain.
Brewer Hicklen, please pick up the red courtesy phone.
Also, both Mauricio Dubón and Ha-Seong Kim had their own injury scares today. Dubón grimaced and had his oblique checked on by trainers after an awkward at-bat, while Kim fouled a ball off his foot/ankle in his 8th-inning at-bat. They both stayed in and finished the game, but sometimes these situations end up being bigger than initially thought after the player burns off the adrenaline from the game and wakes up the next morning. Something to watch for.
Looking for more discussion about this game?
Here’s today’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 welcome Philly back to town for a three-game rematch of last weekend’s series. Here are the announced starters for the series:
Fri = Chris Sale vs Aaron Nola
Sat = Tyler Mahle vs Jesús Luzardo
Sun = Grant Holmes vs Andrew Painter
Just when I was getting increasingly down on Albies and Yaz, they both come up big today. Good for them.
And Riley - he didn't scorch his hit in the eighth but he stayed on the pitch and bounced it through the right side. Big moment.
The Rays are a lot like the Brewers: small market team, put the ball in play, lots of speed. Fun to watch.
We win! Astros beat Philly! Lead is 4 games again, effectively 5 games with the tie-break. Getting to miss two of the Phillies best pitchers isn't a bad thing. Hopefully, we can get some positive regression on hard hit balls this weekend. You'd love to win the series, of course...but we need to avoid getting swept. If we do that, the division should be ours!
We ain't catching the Dodgers or the Brewers for a bye. I'm afraid that ship has sailed. Get ready to host the worst WC team...