I love a good sweep.
Seeing the Detroit Tigers beat Justin Verlander and the Mets, 2-0, today to complete a three-game sweep made my day.HAHAHAHA, I abhor the Mets! Watching the Braves take care of business in Miami yet again was simply icing on the cake.
Dylan Dodd completed six innings of three-run ball and looked good doing it. Braves legend Jorge Soler was the only Marlin to do real damage against Dodd, who scattered eight hits and three walks. The rookie left-hander is now 2-1 on the season.
Ozzie Albies had three more hits, Eddie Rosario doubled twice, and Austin Riley added a pair of singles. Marcell NOzuna and Matt Olson each homered for the Braves, who moved to 22-10 on the season with the 6-3 win today.
Sean Murphy continued his good work in picking up Olson and Riley. With two outs in the top of the first, he drove in Ronald Acuna, Jr. to give the Braves a 1-0 lead. Soler hit a missile in the bottom of the first, taking a 2-1 lead.
The Miami lead was short-lived, however, as Kevin Pillar hit a sac fly to score NOzuna and Acuna singled home Rosario to give the Braves a 3-2 lead. NOzuna’s 447-foot blast increased the lead to 4-2 in the fourth. Soler doubled in a run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 4-3, and the Braves tacked on insurance runs in the ninth when Olson homered to right and Riley scored on a Vaughn Grissom sac fly to complete the scoring.
One concern
My only concern leaving South Beach is NOzuna has gotten hot. I think he made the flight north to Atlanta, but my hope was AA would make a deal with the Marlins for Soler or Jazz Chisholm and leave Marcell there. But, if he wants to rake and this becomes more normative, this Braves lineup is lethal.
Atlanta returns home for three against the 21-10 Baltimore Orioles and two against the Boston Red Sox, who are playing better ball of late, at 19-14.
Best record and best run differential in the NL.
It’s a really deep lineup. I’d love to think that Marcell has played his way back to salary dumpability, but whatever happens with him, the Contract Extension Brigade has been pretty extraordinary lately. This lineup: Acuña, Olson, Riley, Murphy, Albies, Harris, all signed for roughly a million years…
It’s not going to feel this way all year, and we’re going to have some slumps and injuries and bad luck over the long summer. But from where I sit, this looks like the catbird seat. Looks good. Feels great.