Today's Three Things: The Power of Dad Strength Saves the Braves
Atlanta got in a hole early after a rough start by Atlanta, but Michael Harris blasted them out of it
The Atlanta Braves took down the Washington Nationals 8-6 in Nationals Park on Monday night.
Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
It’s odd to call a first-inning success by the losing team as the turning point of the game, but stick with me here.
Prospect Didier Fuentes, making his first start of the season, almost immediately got into trouble. Leadoff man James Wood reached on a checked swing infield single, followed by Luis García Jr. shooting a single the opposite way. Fuentes rallied, striking out both Brady House and CJ Abrams to come close to getting out of the jam.
Daylen Lile said no. The left fielder ended an eight-pitch at-bat with a three-run homer to center, staking Washington to an early lead.
The issue here came down to pitch mix. Fuentes only throws a four-seam fastball, a slider, and the occasional splitter. When he got Lile to a 3-2 count, he didn’t have faith in any pitch but his fastball, so he kept throwing them. Lile saw seven in the at-bat, including four in a row to end it - he fouled off the three immediately before the homer. At a certain point, the catcher (Jonah Heim) needs to call for another pitch and the pitcher needs to execute it. That didn’t happen here.
But it also seemed to spiral things for Fuentes. He allowed a single and a RBI double after this before finally getting out of the inning, already down 4-0 and having thrown 39 pitches. Had he been able to wrap up the at-bat against Lyle, he’d have been sitting in the mid-20s and likely been able to throw more than two additional innings before leaving the game at 74 pitches.
For the contest, he was charged with those four runs on seven hits and a walk, striking out seven. He picked up 15 whiffs, including eight on the four-seamer, and had a 38% CSW. It just came down to Washington hitters realizing that he only trusted the fastball and them sitting on it - they put seven of them into play, all falling for hits, and five of them being quality contact (>95 mph).
Today’s Player of the Game
The new father homered twice in this game, pulling a flyball into the upper decks of Nationals Stadium’s right field before then going opposite field in the 3rd. Atlanta actually had four homers in this game, all in the first four innings - Drake Baldwin hit his 7th in the first inning and Matt Olson added a three-run shot in the 4th inning.
For Harris, this is the continuation of a heater he’s been on since the birth of his son a few weeks ago. Since returning for the start of the Miami series, Harris has 12 hits, four of them homers, has scored six runs, and driven in seven. He’s even added three walks, giving him five for the month, and his full-season line is now up to .296/.337/.543.
What You’ll Be Talking About
Tomorrow’s starter. Atlanta needed a new option since tomorrow’s probable pitcher, Martín Pérez, had to come in for today’s game to replace Fuentes.
They’ve made their decision, with top prospect JR Ritchie scheduled for his MLB debut in tomorrow’s series finale.
Ritchie, 22, has been dominating Triple-A to the tune of a 0.99 ERA through his first five starts, striking out 28 in 27.1 innings with just one homer allowed. He throws a wide arsenal - all three fastballs, both a sweeper and a curveball, as well as a changeup - and excels at generating weak ground ball contact. Short of Atlanta going with an opener for an aggressive first-inning offense like Washington’s, Ritchie is the ideal candidate to come up with enough tools in his bag to make it through a spot start.
With both length options in Pérez and José Suarez unavailable, the Braves are also placing Dylan Dodd (back/oblique) on the injured list and calling up veteran Carlos Carrasco as depth out of the bullpen. The pair are expected to fly to DC tonight.
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?
Tomorrow’s first pitch for the series finale is scheduled for 1:05 PM ET. Cade Cavalli (0-1, 4.12) gets the ball for Washington opposite Ritchie.
As you mentioned, Fuentes' first inning was 90% fastballs to which the hitters quickly adjusted and took advantage. In innings two and three he mixed it up much more using the splitter and slider to get the hitter off of the fast ball and he was in control. My question is: was the steady string of fast balls in the first inning Fuentes' choice or Heims' or the coaching staff? I didn't see Fuentes shake off at any point so I think it was Heims and/or the coaches. Somebody obviously changed the approach after the first inning and the result was much better.
Cannot keep going on and on about the pitching, I get it, you’re a pitching guy but tonight was about how the offense stepped up. You seem genuinely frustrated that every player of the game is not a pitcher