The Atlanta Braves dropped the series opener 9-5 in Washington in Nationals Park on Tuesday night.
Here is Today’s Three Things from the contest.
The Turning Point
Believe it or not, the top of the third inning.
Washington had just dropped four on youngster AJ Smith-Shawver, taking a three-run lead, and Atlanta had a chance to respond. The bottom of the order started things off well, with Brewer Hicklen drawing a leadoff walk and Ha-Seong Kim singling to push Hicklen to third. Drake Baldwin promptly doubled, scoring Hicklen (4-2 Washington) and leaving two in scoring position for the top of the order.
Despite there being no outs, the Braves didn’t score another run in the frame.
Ronald Acuña Jr. got up 2-1, but fouled off a sweeper and a four-seamer in the zone before striking out on a foul tip for the first out of the inning. Matt Olson then softly lined a 1-2 heater to Jorbit Vivas for the second out before Michael Harris II grounded out on a 1-2 elevated four-seamer to end the inning.
Washington would turn right around and get that run back in the bottom half of the inning, extending the lead back to three runs and it wouldn’t get any smaller for the rest of the contest. September callup Jared Simpson relieved starter Jake Irvin after the fourth inning, holding the Braves scoreless, hitless, and without a walk for three innings before turning over an 8-2 game to the rest of Washington’s bullpen.
Simpson, combined with fellow September callup Yohandy Morales (who went 3-5 with a homer and two runs scored from the DH spot), were big reasons why Washington was able to take the opener vs Atlanta.
Today’s Player of the Game
The Braves Today Discord wants me to give it to Michael Harris II, who had a two-run homer in the 8th and played his usual brand of quality defense in centerfield, but I’m giving it to Ha-Seong Kim in a “process over results” decision.
Kim went three for three tonight, picking up three singles, and the way he got on base deserves mention. The first at-bat was a rocket back up the middle at 105.5 mph, coming on a 1-2 four-seamer. The second was Kim blasting a sweeper through the left side at 104 mph, albeit on the ground, and the third was a 109 mph line drive to left, coming on a 2-2 fastball.
Three at-bats, three hard-hit balls, three base hits. All three at-bats featured very little chase, either, with Kim showing a good batter’s eye and waiting for a drivable pitch and then doing it.
Kim turning around his season would be the most unlikely story of the year after he started off 5-73, but he’s currently 5-16 and has shown that once finally healthy, both his speed and base-stealing ability have accompanied his bat back to Atlanta.
Kim made an impressive putout in the 2nd inning, one that saw him shaded toward the 2nd base bag and leaving his feet to snag an Abimelec Ortiz grounder, making a throw from one knee to get the out.
While it’s incredibly premature to declare Kim “BACK back”, he deserves more run at shortstop, which will allow the Braves to continue using Mauricio Dubón for load management. Outside of when Drake Baldwin is at designated hitter to make room for Sean Murphy behind the plate, Dubón has played third base for Austin Riley, second base for Ozzie Albies (tonight), and both center (for Michael Harris) and left field (Mike Yastrzemski).
What You’ll Be Talking About
Atlanta’s offense, man.
The Braves finished this one with five runs on eight hits, and three of those runs came on homers - a solo shot by Ozzie Albies and a two-run blast from Michael Harris.
They also struck out ten times and drew exactly one walk.
And “poor offensive performances” and “not walking” have gone together this season.
August had Atlanta’s lowest walk rate of the season at 6.9%, and that’s a problem because this season, the higher the walk rate went, the higher the wRC+ was.
March/April - wRC+ 116, BB% 8.2
May - wRC+ 101, BB% 8.2
June - wRC+ 65, BB% 7.0
July - wRC+ 111, BB% 8.2
August - wRC+ 91, BB% 6.9
(H/T to Braves Today Discord member Shyne for identifying this trend and pointing it out)
Their whiff rates are remarkably consistent across that span, too, usually a few percentage points of each other, so I think it’s more approach than swing-and-miss fueling the lack of walks.
Either way, even though the offense rallied for three runs in the eighth, it still felt like a disappointing night for the offense. Two of those runs came on the Harris homer, while the third was entirely manufactured by Ronald Acuña Jr.: He reached on a force out, stole 2nd and 3rd on defensive indifference (no one was covering the third base bag), and came in after a wild pitch from Clayton Beeter.
What You’ll Be Talking About 2: Electric Boogaloo
AJ Smith-Shawver had some bad luck tonight.
He was officially charged with five runs in four innings, taking the loss and watching his ERA skyrocket to 7.13.
But despite the three walks, he didn’t pitch poorly enough to have six hits and five runs hung on his line.
AJ allowed only five hard-hit balls tonight, with an average exit velocity against of only 88.9 mph. He also picked up 16 whiffs (34%) and a 30% CSW, although his first- pitch strike rate was just barely over 50% (11/21).
Of those five hard-hit balls, four of them had negative launch angles, but three of them still got through for hits (one being a double). Additionally, Jorbit Vivas had an 80.6 moh double that clanged off Matt Olson’s glove and very well could have been charged as an error, which would have erased at least one run off AJ’s line (and had Olson completed the double play, which you can’t assume in a scoring-change situation), have ended what eventually became a four-run inning before anyone crossed the plate.
With slightly better batted-ball luck for Smith-Shawver, it’s easy to see this as a one- or two-run outing instead of the five-run disaster it was billed as being. It still wasn’t good enough, mind you, but there was improvement there; the first-pitch strike percentage broke 50%, and the whiffs ticked up on the splitter accordingly.
Looking for more discussion about this game?
Then I’ve got bad news, because there was no Postcast tonight. My son’s youth baseball started this evening, so given the events of the week (mainly Bandit’s passing on Monday), I felt it important to be there instead. He’s playing for the Diamondbacks, which is his (and his sister’s) favorite team - that’s a long story involving me trying to hype them up for baseball around the time of the 2023 World Series using the “Snakes Alive” gimmick and a video of Blippi touring Chase Field, a decision I’m still paying for three years later.
If it helps, he went 4-for-4 with a double, a run scored, and two RBI. By the time you read this, I’ll be driving him to Hartsfield so he can join the Braves in Washington and be in Wednesday’s lineup.
What’s Next for the Braves?
The Braves are looking to salvage a split of the two-game set. Grant Holmes (9-5, 3.71) takes on Brad Lord (5-2, 3.75) at 1:05 PM ET.
Tonight's game reminded me how poor the Braves' situational hitting can be (runners on second and third with no outs, the middle of the lineup batting, and they don't score?!) and how the young guns AJSS and Ritchie have great stuff but not enough command to be regarded anything but rotation back-enders.
Congratulations to your son! I’ll be on the lookout for the Braves roster announcement.
Condolences on the loss of Bandit. We will all miss him making an appearance on your couch during the podcast.