Max Fried went 7 strong innings, Adam Duvall homered, and Eddie Rosario hit for the cycle as the Braves salvage a game from the 3 game set at the home of the team with the best record in the Major Leagues.
Duvall’s 36th homer in the top of the 7th scored Austin Riley, and put the Braves up 2 – 0. Rosario followed Duvall with his own homer; the game’s only runs scoring in consecutive at-bats.
Fried allowed 3 hits, walked 1, and struck out 5. He threw 67 strikes among his 99 pitches. Luke Jackson gave up the last Giants hit in the 8th. Jackson was activated from the paternity list before the game, and Orlando Arcia sent to Gwinnett. The Braves are now carrying 16 pitchers.
Will Smith pitched a perfect 9th to protect the 3 run lead and pick up his 33rd save. A 3 run lead is a good scenario for Smith, maybe even a 2 run lead.
Rosario doubled in the 2nd, tripled in the 5th, and singled in the 9th to account for the rest of his cycle. Joc Pederson was moved back into the leadoff spot and had a couple of hits, including a double.
Atlanta now holds a 1.5 game lead in the NL East pending the results of the Phillies/Mets game later Sunday, and play the first of 4 games at Arizona on Monday. Huascar Ynoa and Humberto Mejia are scheduled at 9:40 EDT.
Apparently Rosario only saw 5 pitches, which is the fewest pitches EVER to hit for the cycle on. (Previous low was 8!)
Very cool. Thanks Big D.
That is cool. I haven’t looked it up, but I’ll bet he’s the only person to hit for the cycle and hit one into McCovey Cove in the same game.
@1: that’s interesting, but pitch count data is pretty recent, I think… back to 1988 on Retrosheet. It’s still cool, though.
Yeah I misread the tweet. It said “dating back to 1990”, which I read as 1900. Still, hard to imagine someone doing it in fewer (4) pitches.
From the last thread, I think I was the one who suggested “Varsity” for Fried, and, yes, it is a pun on the word fried.
Great theater at Citi Field at 10.45 tonight with the Braves very much involved in the outcome.
Mets were leading by 1 in the bottom of the eighth when the ball popped up down the RF line – Harper ran 40 yards, very fast and caught it as he dove into foul territory, 3rd out. Any hope of the Mets doubling their one run lead was gone. We would have to watch them make do with one and you just knew Harper would get to the plate.
Which he did with the classic 2 out 2 on situation with Diaz all over the place at 99 and 100. On the third pitch he went deepish but fortunately high rather than forward and it was caught comfortably in the end short of the track.
Game over. Mets win by one run and in doing so doubled our lead over the Phils to 2. I think Bryce Harper is an exceptional baseball player. MVP by a mile. I have never said this before, he is carrying them on his back, 4 wins in a row till tonight, no one else is doing much.
But we’re back to two!
Perfect recap, Rusty. Thank you.
Good recap of the Mets game Blazon. I didn’t know the outcome so you had me in suspense. It is pretty hard to argue against Harper for MVP. He is batting 364 with 11 homers and a 1255 ops in his last 30 games. The dude is blazing hot.
@6 but look at the picture I posted! my interpretation is also doing work!
Phillies suck. I love it.
We play a team with 101 losses (4 in Az) & Philly plays a team with 102 (3 vs. Bal).
Harper is amazing player when he is “on”. Yep, he deserves the MVP whether the Phillies make the playoffs or not. Tatis is fading but I’m sure there is an MVP or two in his future. Ronnie STILL leads the Braves in fWar though he only played 82 games this years. He has the 13th highest fWar in the NL, though Freddie is about to pass him and 3-4 others in the NL. What could have been …….
This season might go down to that final series between the Braves and the Phillies.
@12
sounds good…
they win three while we are winning four?
And didn’t the O’s beat the Yankees recently? Mountcastle on fire we are told?
Philly will not sweep the O’s, we can sweep the Snakes.
@14
In that eventuality we leave Arizona up 4. Back where we belong.
timo
good news!
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/us/politics/us-travel-ban.html
we should send a delegation to greet you at the airport .. for your tenacity!
The O’s one good starter (Means) is going tonight.
And yeah, they’ve played relatively well vs NYY (8-11). They might be the reason the Yanks stay home in October.
Against Bal, Tampa went 18-1, while Boston is 12-4 with 3 to go.
@17
Means to an end then, eh…another loss may get the phaithful panicking…like we did.
timo…how are you going to handle the great difficulty of which time block to commit to? Natural instinct would be leave it as late as possible to where the games really matter-The three last games at the very end of the season? Or gamble on the post season itself? That we are still alive in either case. Be Brave!
Did y’all see this?
https://sports.yahoo.com/no-days-off-freddie-freeman-pushes-braves-teammates-to-play-every-game-140954730.html
Looks like we have to blame Freddie as much as Snit for guys possibly not getting enough rest.
Eh. Freddie’s labor, not management. It all falls back on Snit and the coaching staff. AA gave him a roster of guys, and it’s Snit’s job to make the best use of those guys that he can.
After Saturday night’s gutpunch, DOB turned against Will Smith. Significant, because it suggests that there are probably voices within the club that are thinking the same thing, and possibly even airing it out loud to him, off the record:
https://theathletic.com/2834206/2021/09/19/with-braves-in-4-game-skid-lead-down-to-a-game-its-time-to-change-closers/
timo
missed the headline, sorry…starting November it says…
we will never know what you would have chosen as your time slot…nor will you!
Rumor is Bryce Elder is getting called up
wish we had that Fri night game back and the 2 we lost to Rockies .. shout be 5 up instead of 2 .. but Phils have easier way .. hopefully someone bites them .. id say you are right will come down to the last 3 vs Phils .. they have Wheeler, Nola , Hudson and Suarez … we have Morton, Fried , Anderson and Ynoa ..
advantage Phils ..its where loosing Soroka hurts so bad .. bullpen I gotta give to Phils too .. lineup we can match so its gonna come down to pitching .. period .
@32 to take that 5th spot ?????
What’s a Bryce Elder?
blazon, thank you and yes, I’ve been planning trip(s) for the last few hours already. Finally!
Yes, only from November onwards unfortunately, but I’ll be over more often next season then.
So it’s all on you guys for the 2021 season. Go Braves!
@22 Wow, that would be amazing for him. What a season he has had so far.
Wright with a 2-hit shutout yesterday. He’s been on a good run since end of July.
@22 WOW! That is shocking. Great draft pick…but this seems …..soon?
@25 Draft pick from last year. Has had a great season. All of the Braves picks from last year look really good, btw.
Can he close?
@20 Absolutley if DOB is turning on him there is a good bet the organization is as well. The problem is that you need to take the toys away from Snit or he will play with them. If Smith is on the roster Snit is going to use him to close, mediocre stuff or not
NL East in September
ATL 7-9
Pha 8-9
NYM 8-9
Mia 8-8
Was 6-12
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f5/CantAnybodyHerePlayThisGame.jpg
said Bryce Elder
to his mother when he first beheld her
can I close?
why not dear, when just everyone knows.
@32: It’s quite a race, huh? Jokes about the Paralympics are, of course, verboten, inapt, and inappropriate, so let’s just say it’s progressing with the speed of the three-legged race at the County Fair, in a county not known for its athletes.
#35
Limping to the finish, indeed. We’ve all reverted to mid-season form.
#33
As a kid, I loved that book. Breslin’s Marv Throneberry stories are priceless.
The other great Mets book of my youth was “The Year the Mets Lost Last Place” by Paul Zimmerman & Dick Schaap. It details a couple of crucial mid-1969 series vs. the Cubs, which included the near-perfect-game by Tom Seaver. Lotsa details that brought you inside that miracle team a bit.
I also recently finished Ron Darling’s “Game 7, 1986,” which served as a great preview to the recent ESPN 4-part, “30-for-30” doc on the ’86 Mets. Not exactly a lovable team (if you’re not a Mets fan), but Darling was good at explaining why they succeeded and why, ultimately, they didn’t win more than they did. (The Gary Carter/Keith Hernandez dynamic was really fascinating.) But for that one year, they were a real juggernaut. In fact, in the ’80s, the 2 best teams (in terms of great single seasons) were the ’84 Tigers & ’86 Mets.
Of course, now… I just hope the Mets aren’t in a very competitive mood the last 3 games of the season.
Elder going from a 5th round draft pick as a Junior out of Texas in January of this year, to A+, to AA, to AAA to the majors would be quite a ride. Considering he’s pitched 23 games in the minors and has started all of them, I would definitely look for him as a starter. His WHIP and batting average against has dropped each level he’s advanced. I would gladly take an ERA below 2.28, a WHIP below .98 and batting average against under .148.
Question: He is not on the 40 man roster, but jettisoning Lopez would be pretty easy. However, wouldn’t he not be eligible for the playoffs since he wasn’t on the 40 man on Sept 1?
Kyle Wright.
I would repeat if I may what I’ve quoted here a few times since, the Ron Darling assessment during a late season commentary at the tail end of the 2019 season…..
‘This guy has the best off speed stuff I’ve seen all year.”
If you respect the source as much as I do you’ve still gotta believe.
What was the name of the best known of those pitching ‘boot camps’ where you sent your underperformers for a vigorous shake out and they returned like new, reschooled, to supposedly set the world alight? And are they still around or did covid finish them off? All the rage a couple of years ago it seemed. Now silence?
I think you’re thinking of Driveline? I’m sure they’re still around. Easy to socially distance when you’re on a mound, of course.
Unfortunately, I’m pretty convinced that Wright needs a change of scenery.
Lineup juggle tonight. I think I like it.
They could always put Ozuna on the 60 day IL to open a 40-man spot.
I don’t know why they would want to keep Yoan Lopez on the 40 man roster. He has done fair in AAA but I’m afraid his chances have already passed him by. What benefit is there to keep him on the 40 man through the end of the year? I have a feeling there could be legal hassles with putting Ozuna on the 60 day IL that they would rather not deal with, but I’m not sure.
Bowman says Elder is fake news and that Smyly is likely to start tomorrow.
Ozuna is on administrative leave now, not on the IL, so I don’t think they can move him to the 60 day IL.
I would rather Elder start than Smyly. You may as well spot them 4 runs and start the game in the 4th inning. Muller would be a good option too.
I like Soler leading off.
Ozuna isn’t listed as being on the 40 man roster.
ububba was right about Means…Phillies lose, shut out 2-0
Good job O’s. Bad job Braves offense.
Riley!
Finally, an early breakthrough hit! I thought for sure this rally was doomed as well after Freeman’s hit down the line was just close enough to the LF to hold him to a single and then Ozzie’s was just close enough to the RF for him to cutoff and hold Freeman to third.
Also @49, whatever you’re watching or listening on was almost a minute and a half ahead of the utterly useless Bally Sports app upon which I thought I was watching this game live.
Ynoa is fooling nobody this inning.
I wish the Braves had a pitching coach.
Just keep spinning shitty sliders up there, Huascar…yeesh!
Glavine trying to convince anybody who will listen that none of these are “bad pitches”…right.
If we lose Freddie, Contreras might be the first baseman, because he’s not a major league catcher defensively.
Do you remember a couple years ago when our catchers (particularly Flowers) never wanted our pitchers, who had absolutely no control, to throw a strike? Or if they did, they had to throw it on the most extreme corner of the strike zone? And consequently nobody could throw a strike?
Well, the biggest problem with our pitch calling now is that none of our catchers are apparently willing to tell our pitchers that maybe it’s time to shove that hanging slider that they’ve already thrown four times in a row and somehow haven’t gotten punished for yet up their ass and throw a freaking fastball.
50 — I’m just watching on cable tv.
Blue is struggling behind the plate for both teams.
With Ynoa and Anderson struggling we only have 2 starting pitchers I trust right now.
Not sure why we sent Huascar back out there for this inning, to tell you the truth. If you haven’t made your decision on tomorrow’s starter yet (assuming it’s Touki vs. Smyly), make it now and put the other one in the game now. You’re fixing to just let this game disappear into the ether otherwise.
And he can’t field play defense, either (though this will get overturned to give us one out, at least).
Ugh…..had him struck out.
Ynoa needs to run towards that base runner. Ugh.
Just for the record, we just got a call overturned via manager’s challenge.
I’m confident that this Arizona team won’t shut us out the rest of the way.
Chip Caray: “It’s a leaky Arizona ’pen.”
This guarantees shutout innings from the Arizona relievers.
This is therapeutic. More please.
I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Normally I’m really good at criticizing the team, but right now I’m drawing a blank.
Six hits to start the inning! How bout that!
After Riley’s shot didn’t go out, I thought maybe the ball wasn’t carrying well tonight. I’d like to withdraw that thought now. Good lord!
That was a bomb !!!!
Still nobody out.
I’ve seen a lot of home runs go into a lot of strange nooks of this stadium, but I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anybody hit a ball quite up there.
Go Max!!
Good morning, woke up at 3-3. Really needed an inning like this. How far did Duvall’s HR go?
They said 483 feet. I’d say at least that.
Terrible call on Ozzie.
Does Rodriguez throw anything other than center cut fast balls ??
Nope….not since the ban on the sticky stuff.
LOL…nice pitch, Edgar. So wild that it had the batter, catcher and umpire all ducking for cover.
Went to Rangers/Yanks tonight & had a Braves flashback: Saw Charlie “Clutch” Culberson dink one high off the LF foul pole.
Of course, I sweated out the Braves game on the iPhone… until they scored a TD/PAT in the 5th.
And thanks, Orioles… don’t stop there!
recapped.