Freddy Peralta threw 6 innings of scoreless, 2 hit ball, striking out 8, and the Brewers withstood a furious Braves comeback to salvage a game from the 3 game set.
Huascar Ynoa could not manage a clean inning among his 4 2/3, and the Brewers broke through with 2 runs in the bottom of the 3rd, 1 run in the 4th, and a 2 run homer in the 5th by Avisail Garcia that Ender Inciarte was almost able to pull back into the park (or is it a field? Our announcers debate.) Ynoa’s other totals included 9 hits, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts.
Here’s your periodic reminder that the problem with having 14 pitchers is that sooner or later, you are going to use them. Down 5 – 0, with 4 1/3 innings to cover, and with Peralta dealing, it’s understandable, but then Jesse Biddle threw 13 consecutive balls in the 6th.
Hey, Biddle Biddle didn’t put a pitch in the middle of his swing like he didn’t care, but you really don’t want to walk this way. A couple of wild pitches and a passed ball led to 3 more runs. To their credit, the Brewers did add a bunt hit, and held a 8 – 0 lead after 6.
Then it got interesting. Biddle must have messed the field up so badly, no one could do anything right. It started on the mound as J.P. Feyereisen relieved Peralta to start the 7th. Two hits, 2 walks, and a wild pitch allowed the Braves to score their first 2 runs. Brent Suter relieved Feyereisen, and then the Brewers defense came down with The Biddle. Consecutive defensive miscues (throwing late to second on a fielder’s choice, and an error) allowed another run to score, and left the bases loaded.
Freddie Freeman unloaded them with his 11th homer of the season, and in a flash cut the score to 8 – 7.
Josh Tomlin came on in the bottom of the inning, and after a walk, a fly out, and a single, yielded to Sean Newcomb. To be fair, Tomlin may not have been Biddle’s fault. Newcomb promptly hit a batter, and a Lorenzo Cain single made it 10 – 7. Newcomb survived a walk of his own to battle out of the inning and stick the double Grybo.
The Braves got a run back in the 8th, when Dansby Swanson singled, stole second, and took third on a throwing error into center field. He scored when William Contreras reached (all together now) on an error.
Luke Jackson restored order with a clean 8th, like he does, setting the stage for the Braves to make Josh Hader work in the 9th. Freeman led off the 9th with a walk, and went to 3rd on a 1 out single by Ozzie Albies. Swanson scored Freeman with a sac fly, and an Austin Riley single moved the tying run to 2nd. From there, however, Hader was able to strike out Contreras and earn his 9th save.
Riley finished 2 -2 with 3 walks, and Swanson went 2 – 4.
I’m going to list below some career stats of 4 players; take a moment and guess who they might be. Spoiler alert: the names will come right after the stats, so scroll lightly.
6 seasons: .244/.293/.364, 3.4 dWAR
6 seasons: .246/.318/.393, 4.1 dWAR
6 seasons: .242/.321/.353, 0.8 dWAR
9 seasons: .244/.310/.363, -0.1 dWAR
Pretty similar right, offensively anyway?
The players are Orlando Arcia, Dansby Swanson, Guillermo Heredia, and Ehire Adrianza, respectively.
Swanson and Arcia are essentially the same age; the 27 year old Dansby is the elder by 6 months. Heredia is 30 and Adrianza is 31.
Do you gamble that Arcia can come up and give the Braves the kind of bounce Adam Duvall and Austin Riley gave the team in recent seasons, when they came up after a hot streak in AAA? Or do you trust that Dansby is about to go on the kind of tear he would need to get back to his career norms? Do you continue with the Riley analogy and see if Arcia can play the outfield? Heredia has been getting the job done, but is it sustainable? Adrianza is right about where you would expect, and probably has the least upside.
I’m inclined to give Dansby some more time, and to leave Heredia in center, but we need a couple from this group to exceed their history.
The Mets come to town Monday for a 7:00 pm ESPN game; Max Fried and Taijuan Walker scheduled.
If the Braves follow recent precedent, Biddle will not be on the team for Monday night’s game with the Mets.
Correction, Ynoa went 4 1/3 innings, not 4 2/3.
One more run to complete the Cy Young-MVP compilation: the largest collection of incumbent awards was the 2007 Yankees: Clemens (7 Cy Youngs and 1 MVP), A-Rod (3 MVPs) and Jason Giambi (1 MVP) with 12. When Pujols joins the Dodgers, that team will have 11: Bauer (1 Cy Young), Bellinger (1 MVP), Betts (1 MVP), Kershaw (3 Cy Youngs, 1 MVP), Price (1 Cy Young), Pujols (3 MVPs)
Just call him Biddle and Bits because he’s dog food anyway. We could use the extra bat of Arcia anyway. I’m not sure who’s better – Arcia, Camargo, or Demeritte. They all have about the same batting line at Gwinnett.
“coming down with The Biddle” Love it! What a terrible baseball game but a beautiful recap.
@4 Those three are all equally less than optimal.
84-78 at best. This sure is not last years team.
Cheap brings compromise.
Biddle and Bits is really good.
Also @Remy in last thread, so glad you like On Dark Horses! That was the record that got me into ERR.
I think her best album is probably the previous one, Marked for Death. Other than the killer Thou collaboration, I also really like The Fear is Excruciating… by Red Sparowes, Salome by Marriages, and Aokigohara by the Nocturnes. And the split EP she did with Evan Patterson before they got married, The Time Between Us, is quite good too.
@7 I’ll take the over on 84 wins for the Braves. The offense has been fine (and, I think, will continue to improve), the starting pitching will get better as Morton, Smyly and Fried mix in more good starts than bad, and relief pitching… well, there’s only up from here for that crew, right? Relief pitching is far easier to fix than a busted starting rotation or a bad offense anyway. Odds are that we’ll get meaningful ‘pen contributions from somebody currently in AA/AAA and multiple somebodys from trades / waiver scrap-heap from here through the remainder of the season.
I am sticking with my (recently made) 90 win hope-cast for the Braves. At some point they’re going to start clicking and reel off a month or two of .600 – .700 winning percentage ball. Mark my words!
Kudos, Rusty — Biddle is definitely a lesser arrowsmith.
I don’t feel confident with a won/loss prediction, but I know this is still a very capable team. As bad as many of these guys have looked, they’re all very capable of looking like all-stars for a stretch. One very hot month of this team is capable of changing the NL East landscape for the rest of the season Believe it.
AAR @ #9
Thanks for the tips! I like Evan Patterson’s guitar playing. I can’t wait to dive in.
I’ve also been listening to a lot of Galaxie 500 lately.
Go, Braves!
Sorry to cut your post short, Rusty, but David shot me a MiLB update so….new thread. I’ll do better with shelf life in the future.
https://bravesjournal.mystagingwebsite.com/2021/05/17/braves-minor-league-update/
@14, no worries, sansho1 already made my day. Good to see the MiLB update ready.
I like some peoples confidence. So what you believe is this years team will match last years team. Even though let’s see. Catcher, two relief pitchers, best bench player are gone and not replaced.
Left fielder, first baseman who will never match last years performance. Center fielders who hit just over 100. Best pitcher who again will not probably pitch. And two pitchers whom have seen better days. An other immaturely breaks his hand. Oh yea, I see 90 plus wins. I also see Pink Floyd touring again with Roger Waters. May both happen. I have been a fan since 1953. Pitched to Hank Aaron in West Palm Beach. 84 is it. I will look forward to being wrong.