It’s Kyle Wright vs. Braxton Garrett tonight and Wright has some big shoes to fill. Not sure the Braves can top a game where they shut out the Marlins 6-0 with Bryce Elder facing off against Sandy Alcantara, but they will send Max Fried to the mound against Braxton Garrett for Game 2 of the series. Would a complete game shutout suffice? How about a no-hitter? I’m not picky. I’ll take either, but I’d also take just a good old fashioned W. Garrett was picked 7th overall back in 2016 and only just earned his stay in the rotation last year. He’s not a hard thrower as his average FB is sub-90, but he does carry a 4-pitch mix with the slider getting the most swing and miss.
Kyle Wright is on the hill for the Braves and was looking strong in his last appearance before the rain danced on his parade. Getting Wright right would solidify the rotation and give this team a real chance to win via SP every night.
Braves Lineup
- Ronald Acuña Jr.
- Matt Olson
- Austin Riley
- Sean Murphy
- Ozzie Albies
- Vaughn Grissom
- Marcell Ozuna
- Kevin Pillar
- Michael Harris II
Ronald Acuna Jr. Wins NL Player of the Month
It’s no surprise, as we watch him everyday, but RAJ started his revenge tour off in spectacular fashion and I hope he stays unrelenting.
AJ Smith-Shawver Promoted to Pearl
I wrote about Smith-Shawver yesterday and discussed what I thought his timeline could be should he continue to pitch well, and boy, was I wrong. Not an hour after I hit submit, Smith-Shawver got the call to Double-A. It’s definitely an aggressive play from the powers that be, but so was Spencer Strider when he was promoted to the MLB directly from AA. As I’ve discussed before, Pearl is the real litmus test in the Braves org and Alex Anthopoulos and his crew have not been shy about promoting directly from AA. While I don’t think Smith-Shawver will see the bigs in 2023 (he’s only 20!), I truly don’t think it’s out of the question. Both Vaughn Grissom and Michael Harris II debuted at 21 and Shawver will be 21 in November. Crazier things have happened!
Game 2, Kyle Wright vs. Braxton Garrett! Let’s get it.
Looks like Ozuna bought himself another couple of weeks on the roster.
More like a month now.
Still, good for him.
How bout AA makes a deal for someone off the marlins roster and we leave NOzuna in South Beach? Seems like a win-win…
Great…we get pre-2022 Kyle Wright tonight
Looks like we’re stuck with Marcell for a while.
Looks like we have a new candidate for player of the month for May.
Wright has nothing.. His curve is just a hanger tonight.
oh crap
Hello Michael Soroka.
Great, McHugh is our answer. Joy…he also has nothing tonight.
I mean, maybe at some point we need to address the bullpen? We have what, maybe a couple of reliable arms down there in Anderson and Lee, and maybe Chavez and Tonkin? McHugh, Jimenez, Yates and tight now Minter are not throwing it real well right now.
Not good…
Ronald Acuña Jr. is a bad, bad man.
Maybe Riley and Harris are getting off the schneid, huh?
That’s been my hope. Three elevated fly balls for Riley tonight is a good sign
Harris’ thing looked real bad. Hopefully it’s not a big deal. Our team is made of glass right now, sheesh.
Message to Marlins front office
It should be obvious to you after tonight’s game that Ozuna has turned things around. He had good years in Miami. Do whatever it takes to bring him back to Miami. It will be very hard for Atlanta to part with him, but you have what it takes to get it done! Your fanbase is depending on you.
Wasting Minter in an 8 run game when we will most likely need him to pitch tomorrow
They had announced Fried would be pushed back to Friday with tomorrow being a bullpen game. With tonight turning out to be a bullpen game, I think that’s going to change.
Yeah, tomorrow won’t be a bullpen game now, surely. Here’s hoping for a Soroka season debut tomorrow.
This is turning into a very costly win.
Shoulder soreness for Kyle. At least it wasn’t a tight forearm. But I foresee an IL stint in Kyle’s future.
Ahhh… 14-6: the Kirby Kushion
Harris left as a precaution, apparently, with a jammed knee. That doesn’t sound too bad.
Stallings out here throwing strikes and changing speeds, like it’s been done for 150 years.
Man…the bullpen catching some heat in this thread after covering 7 innings of 6 hit, 1 BB, 8K, and 2 run baseball.
Yes. They haven’t inspired confidence, but let’s also keep in mind that the main guys have all only pitched 10 – 15 innings this season before we leap to too many conclusions.
Hope Arcia can come back soon. Grissom’s bat is not carrying his glove.
Grissom’s glove is much worse than I thought it would be and I didn’t have high expectations. He has a lot of work to do on his footwork and I think he can cut down on the errors. Unfortunately I don’t think he’ll ever have decent range. I just don’t see him sticking at shortstop. If he can hit consistently I think he has some trade value as a 2nd baseman. I don’t think he’ll ever hit enough to be a DH. I guess if he works on his footwork at short and on playing other positions, the best path seems to be a super utility man,.
I’m worried about Wright. Shoulder stuff, man.
recapped.