The Braves won their 4th game in a row after a big 11th inning, and finally reached the .500 plateau. Spencer Strider started, and didn’t have his command, walking 5 men in 4 innings. He managed to only give up one run though despite walking the tightrope, and that was scored on a wild pitch. He was helped out by a defensive gem by Dansby to get him out of a 3rd inning bases loaded jam.
Unfortunately, the Braves weren’t able to do much of anything against Kyle Freeland (who pitched 7 strong innings) except for a solo homer in the 6th by Riley. The bullpen was able to hold down the Rockies offense though, as Chavez, McHugh, Smith, and O’Day pitched the 5th through the 9th successfully.
The Braves were able to score the Manfred Man in the 10th, as Michael Harris led off with an infield single, then Acuna knocked the ghost runner in with a sacrifice fly. But they couldn’t add on, and the Rockies scored their own Manfred Man run in the bottom of the 10th as a seeing eye single by Elias Diaz got through the right side of the infield against AJ Minter.
But in the 11th, after Olson and Ozzie popped out weakly, Ozuna doubled to center and knocked in the ghost man off of former Brave for a minute Jhoulys Chacin, and the Braves added on when William Contreras (getting the start at catcher) doubled in Ozuna. Adam Duvall then took out his season long frustration on an inside fastball for a 2 run homer to provide the final 2 runs. Jackson Stephens got the final 3 outs.
Charlie Morton starts against Ryan Feltner tomorrow afternoon as the Braves try to complete the 4 game sweep at Coors Field.
My wife and I had a rare night out last night, as the in-laws were in town and watched the kids. I couldn’t hide my phone enough to not be caught watching while on our date, but luckily for me, it was a west-coaster and my pregnant wife was snoozing by 9PM. Thanks (and I’m not sure how much I mean that) to Jonathan F, we know that there isn’t really such a thing as momentum in baseball. Last night did feel different. The rotation is mostly pitching the way they should, Duvall, who’s been an offensive black hole, hit a dinger, and Austin Riley is putting his name in the MVP conversation and is on pace for 40+ HRs.
Strider got the full Coors experience. He knew his offspeed would have much less break in the mountain air and had to nibble. It’s a testament to his fastball that he only allowed 1 run while walking 5 as he matched the walks with Ks.
The bullpen was the real winner, only allowing 1 hit, 1 walk, and 1 unearned run at freaking Coors field. That’s bloody remarkable.
And I think Jackson Stephens is my favorite reliever at the moment. While he doesn’t have a story equal to Matzek’s, his journey is equally as remarkable!
An incredibly mediocre MILB pitcher for 8 years > Awful MLB SP for 2 stints in Cinci >incredibly mediocre pitcher in Mexican League > Pitcher of the Year, Venezuelan League > MILB deal with ATL > 1 start in AAA, MLB call-up> Worthy addition to the Night Shift.
Love this stuff.
As has been noted, the Braves didn’t break .500 until Aug 6 last year. We have a chance to do that two months earlier. We have plenty of time and this team certainly has the roster to be a champion again. But it sure does seem like the Mutts might actually not be their normal LOL self this year.
Mets: I’ll believe it when I see it. In my head and heart, their demise is inevitable until it’s not.
Thanks Braves14.
Now let’s see how long we can go without a 3 game losing streak.
@4 That’s something Chip would say ;-). JK, Rusty. Will be interesting to see.
What is actually the longest streak going without a 3-game losing streak, JonathanF?
@5 – Bally has my resume lol.
Ozuna gets a “well deserved” day off today. Maybe this is the lineup that can bash its way to a sweep. Seems like Charlie has fared well against most of these Rockies except Grichuk.
It’s a long time ago, but the Braves were actually over .500 for one day (2-1 after the opening series with the Reds). The last time we were at .500 was on April 16 (5-5). Schedule is pretty favorable over the next couple of weeks, now’s the time to break on through to the other side.
Morton will jeopardize the winning streak, with the possibility of hanging curve ball after hit batters.
@3 maybe the Mets are good now! But they’re gonna have to prove it to me. No benefit of the doubt with their recent history. There is still time for Bassitt to go full Mets and for their stud pitchers to inexplicably get worse and not better with treatment. I’m not pulling for that because I hope they all have lovely lives, but the Mets are sufficiently established in their ways that I need some extended success from them before I’ll believe they won’t inadvertently destroy their own chances.
@3 – The Mets thing to do will be getting deGrom and Max back, and THEN falling apart.
I love the term “Manfred Man”, even though I don’t like the rule. Hey, the NFL could go with 12 men on offense in overtime! Or hockey has to play overtime without goalies.
That being said, and I know the sample size is still small… has the ghost runner actually accomplished the goal of shortening extra inning games? Seems to me that we get plenty of games where both teams score the ghost runner in an inning.
Was a good on base guy with some speed who can play shortstop.
@11 I can’t produce a source atm but I remember reading that it had pretty substantially reduced the length of extra inning games
The 2001 Mariners went 149 games before losing three in a row, although they then lost the next game as well. But that’s the longest any team has gone without losing three in a row.
@14 did you check between seasons or only in season? I don’t actually care, for the record, I just instinctively nitpick.
I’m not worried about the Mets either. The key of course is for the Braves to play as they are capable. If they do that, they will win over 90 games, which will get them in the playoffs one way or another.
It would be great to win the division. There are still 15 games left with the Mets, including 8 in a 14 day stretch in early August. So even though they are 8.5 out, winning most of the head to head matchups would give us a pennant race for the division down the stretch.
@15: In season only
Come on Charlie, throw strikes.
@14, 149 games. Wow.
Duvall had no idea where that ball was.
Morton remains washed.
Duvall might as well have done a double axel on that jump, because he certainly was nowhere near catching the ball.
Looks like we might be in for a Coors Field special today after a two-day reprieve.
So Ozuna put on Duvalls jersey?
No one expected few runs scored. But Charlie you suck.
@14–I still have trouble wrapping my mind around that 2001 Mariners team and how good they were—and how they could be so good. They won more regular season games than any team in MLB history.
Swansby looks so much better than he did a few weeks ago.
440 to dead center. Olson’s power is coming around.
There was no way Adam was going to try for that second triple.
Things have settled down now on our side of the baseball, but the Rockies are imploding.
Duvall is up to the the Mendoza line for the first time in awhile.
Chip just informed us that Charlie has been around long enough to know that he must go five innings to qualify for the Win.
Chip is pretty much the only person who still cares about the starting pitcher getting the “win.”
I had no hope of Morton sticking around through 5 innings after the 41 pitch first. Well done Charlie. With 7 innings from the bullpen yesterday, we really needed that.
Nice running catch by Acuña to save a run.
Amazing how you can take Ozuna out of the lineup and score 8 runs.
Find somebody who loves you the way Snit loves Will Smith.
Hancock to the rescue…….for the Rockies.
Hancock can’t be used in any situation. He is now Josh Tomlin
Kill this bullpen with fire. Except Minter.
I still blame Will Smith because he is Will Smith. Dank Lob part 2
The, uh, Night Shift is, uh, concerning.
Jansen seemed so unhittable whenever we faced him last few years. Now for us, he’s had me on pins and needles his last five or so appearances. Just weird.
Win, win, win.
And exhale…
What are you guys talking about? I have concerns about Smith and Jensen, but other than them the bullpen has been great lately
My biggest issue is just that I don’t really trust them. Strider was incredible, but he was justifiably promoted. Stephens has been good but he has coughed up the odd inopportune run; McHugh and O’Day have been pretty shaky; and Dylan Lee is fine as the last man in the bullpen, but I don’t yet see him as a stud in the making.
I’d feel a lot better about the bunch of them if we had one or two more consistently reliable arms. But consistency ain’t been this team’s strength, up to now.
@45: Every reliever currently on the roster has an ERA+ > 100. (Wow!) Jansen is towards the bottom, however, at 124, and has by far the highest leverage index. Those two won’t stay in conflict for long, one way or another.
Will Smith was incredible in the playoffs last year, correct? Even those whom would be reconsidered lacking in a religious foundation would consider his performance a miracle. He stinks.
It’s hard to not give up runs in Colorado. I still think our bullpen will be fine. Enjoy the day off from the first successful roadtrip lads.
As much as the bullpen pains me, we should all admit it’s better than any early season bullpen we’ve had during the last 4 years. Think about all the really bad relievers we had in the early parts of other seasons. According to FG our bullpen is still the best in the league (granted that includes Strider in the bullpen).
McHugh has become what he was expected to be. Hopefully, Matzek will be back in form soon. The others are pretty close to their expectations. Prior to last year Luke Jackson wasn’t exactly what we thought of as reliable. I agree that we need a “Strider” (formerly, Matzek filled this role). We have four fairly reliable pieces – Minter, McHugh, Smith, jansen – and three fairly reliable middle relievers – O’Day, Chavez, Stephens. Even if some of those pieces scare us sometimes, they are getting the job done. If Matzek comes back in full form and Yates joins us after the All Star Break, this bullpen will be top of the league even with Strider starting.
I think we could use one OF and get Eddie Rosario back in full form. I’m not sure Ozuna will come back and I’d like a DH platoon with Rosario and Ozuna. Trade for Benintendi and let one of Duvall/Heredia go (after Rosario comes back). I think Harris should stay up. If he can keep up a .250 AVG and .700 OPS, he’ll be great as a rookie. He’s already better than Pache was and I think he’s doing as well as Acuna when he was first promoted. In May 2018, he had .235 AVG and .678 OPS went back down and came back in July with .256 AVG and .834 OPS then he took off in Aug/Sept and never looked back. Harris may not be Acuna but he looks like a solid OF piece.
Not worried about the bullpen. It’s disappointing, sure, that we’re paying two guys elite closer money to not be elite closers, but oh well. We haven’t had an elite closer since, what, Jason Grilli? Arodys Vizcaino, Jim Johnson, Luke Jackson, Mark Melancon, Will Smith, and a declining Kenley Jansen have been our closers since 2016. That’s not a real impressive list of closers.
We should just beat teams by 10 runs and not worry about this. #RobForManager
Four weird games, but all wins. Nice.
Now it’s 12 games vs. A’s (2), Bucs (4), Nats (3) & Cubs (3) — 4 teams that combine for a .403 winning percentage.
Time to pick up some more ground.
Good points, all.
Recapped
And yes, prepare yourselves, I’m gonna defend the bullpen (yes, even Will Smith) as well.