A great win by the Braves!  Bryce Elder had another terrific start, Olson had a double and a homer, Ozuna had an rbi in the 7th and two more in the 8th, the team played excellent defense, and the bullpen preserved a lead with perfect innings in the 8th and 9th.

Last time the Braves were on Apple+, I listened to the Braves radio while watching the Apple TV feed.  This time I decided, for a change of pace, to listen to the Apple Crew.  It quickly became clear that whole broadcast team decided to play up this game as “The Battle of the Bryces—Elder vs. Miller.”  It was an interesting theme: two young pitchers, both from Texas, and both showing surprising early success in 2023.

Although both are 24 years old, Seattle’s Bryce is actually the elder of the two; he will turn 25 later this year, while the Braves’ younger Elder turned 24 yesterday. 

Before the game, I thought the theme was overhyped.  I figured both young pitchers were due for a regression and that each team might score a lot of runs.

I was wrong.  Both Bryces were excellent; each starter was dominant through the first six innings, with the younger Elder being just slightly better.  The Braves clung to a 1-0 lead after six.  The difference in the game was the bullpens.  Although the M’s scored twice in the 7th, the Braves scored multiple runs in the 7th and 8th.

The two starters had their age, home state, and first name in common, but they could not be more different in how they pitch.  Our Bryce is old school—he relies on location, movement, and change of speeds. The fastest pitch he throws is only 90-91 mph.  Their Bryce relies on a four seam fastball at the top of the zone, which he throws with high spin in the mid to upper 90’s.  Of his first 95 pitches, 75 were four seamers!

Bryce Elder was as good as I’ve seen him though the first five innings.  Through those five, he struck out five with no walks.  He didn’t even go to a three ball count until two outs in the fifth.  He’d given up four singles, but none of them were hit hard.  Through five, he’d only thrown 58 pitches, and 41 were strikes.  He was mixing his sinker and slider as always, and his changeup was especially effective.

How does he get hitters out without throwing in the nineties?  He locates well down in the zone and his pitches move well, both vertically and horizontally.  Apparently, the nature of the spin causes both his sinker and slider to break in ways that the hitter is not expecting.  According to sideline reporter Heidi Watney, it’s because his pitches have “seam shifted wake.”  I was pretty stunned to hear that phrase—as was Dontrelle Willis in the booth.  D-Train was complimentary of these young pitchers and how they understand their bodies and the physics of motion.  As D-Train said, “I was just a turkey sandwich type of pitcher, fastball, slider, changeup.”

So what is seam shifted wake?  I remembered I had seen a piece by Ivan over at Battery Power not long ago, suggesting this phenomenon as a key to Elder’s success. Bryce Elder, Spin Doctor – Battery Power.   If you want to learn more about the physics of this phenomenon, check out this from a mechanical engineering professor:  Seam-Shifted Wake? Barton Smith on Baseball Aerodynamics and Spin – YouTube.

 Bryce appeared to tire a little in the sixth.  J.P. Crawford (cousin of Carl Crawford)  lined a one out double to left for their first runner in scoring position.  A wild pitch put him on third with one out.  The next batter hit a sharp liner to center that was  caught by Harris on a dead run and without setting his feet he threw a perfect strike to the plate and got Crawford by several steps.

MHII has one of the best center field arms you’ll ever see, not just in strength but in accuracy.  It occurred to me that many of the Braves regulars throw harder than Elder.  Harris, Murphy (who had a great throw to nail a runner trying to steal in the fourth), RAJ (who didn’t have a chance to nail a runner, but did make a fantastic leaping catch at the wall in the seventh), and Arcia and Riley are each capable of 95 mph plus, while Elder rarely breaks 90.

Meanwhile, it looked like it would be a short night for Seattle’s Bryce when the game began.  Ronald and Olson started the first with back to back doubles.  They should have scored more than one run, as Riley hit a screamer up the middle but the M’s second baseman made a leaping run scoring grab, and Rosario hit one to the track.  This kid who relies so heavily on a fastball was facing a team that kills fastballs, and at that point I expected the Braves to feast on him. It didn’t turn out that way.  Miller righted the ship and allowed only one baserunner between the first and the seventh.

So we go to the seventh with the Braves clinging to a 1-0 lead.  Both starters would falter.  Elder gave up a leadoff double to Rodriguez, and a wild pitch put a runner on third with no outs. This was followed by a walk to Kelenic, and Suarez tied the game with a sharp single to left. 

Elder had clearly lost the command he had demonstrated in the first six.  I’m not sure how much of that was getting tired and losing command, and how much was hitters seeing him for third time and laying off those pitches that dart below the strike zone.  Anyway, Elder was done, and McHugh entered the game.  The first batter hit a long drive as to which Ronald made the fantastic leaping catch at the wall, thereby saving at least one run.  McHugh had Hernandez 0-2, fouled off a couple of breaking balls, then surrendered an rbi single on a fastball.  All of a sudden the M’s lead 2-1.  Fortunately, McHugh induced an inning ending ground ball double play to keep it a one run game.

The Braves wasted no time in retaking the lead.  After a Riley single and Ozzie walk, Ozuna dumped a flare to right that scored Riley to make it 2-2.  Arcia followed with a long drive to right that he and I thought was gone.  It bounced off the wall for a run scoring single to give the Braves a two run lead.

Nick Anderson got the Mariners 1, 2, 3, in the eighth on five pitches.  What a find he’s been!

As they went to the bottom of the eighth, I heard Ernie Senior’s voice say “A little insurance wouldn’t hurt.”  That voice may have been my wife; she says that as much as Old Ern did.  And they were right!  The Braves scored three.  Matty O led off with a homer to make it 4-2.  Murphy and Riley followed with singles to put two on with no out.  They brought in a lefty to face Rosario.  My first thought was, Ozzie will bat righty this time up! He’s the best hitter in the game from the right side.  Snit pinch hit with Pillar who was out on a weak fly.  But Ozzie, of course, followed with a sharp single to center to load bases.  Marcell then singled in two to make it 6-2.

You know, Ozuna has been not just ok, but actually excellent for the month of May.  Without getting into off the field stuff, it is a good thing that AA didn’t do what so many of us were clamoring for in April, to release him and eat that sunk cost.

Iglesias came on and got a 1,2,3 ninth.  It wasn’t a save, but it’s good to see him rounding into form.  And it adds one more data point for JonathanF’s study.

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I mentioned that the color guy was Dontrelle Willis.  As much as I hate the Marlins (Pure Evil, after all), I always liked D-Train as a pitcher.  As a commentator, he was something like himself as a pitcher.  Refreshingly different from others, enjoyable at first, but then didn’t sustain as well as you might have hoped.

D-Train went on and on about pitchers from Texas and how they love to throw the high heat.  (Of course that characterization only applied to one of the Texas Bryces this night—Bryce E is nothing like that.) D-Train cited his contemporaries Josh Beckett and Kerry Wood as prototypical Texas four-seam hurlers.  I naturally thought of Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens as the ultimate examples of this style. 

The opposite of that style would be another pitcher born in Texas, Greg Maddux.  To be fair, although Maddux was born in San Angelo, his family moved when he was young and he went to high school in Las Vegas, where he must have learned to change speeds and rely on movement rather than speed.  I’m sure if he had remained in Texas he would have developed a four seamer that he threw at the top of the zone.  For that matter, Roger Clemons, like Jerry Jeff Walker, was not originally from Texas (born in Ohio like David Allen Coe), but went to high school in Houston, college at UT-Austin, and became as prototypically Texan as Jerry Jeff Walker or Ray Benson.

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I almost started this recap with something like, “It was hard to see clearly through the Purple Haze, but it Smelled Like Teen Spirit at Truist Park on Friday.”  The two groundbreaking southpaw guitarists from Seattle, who each died far too young, could have been a theme. Fortunately for all us, I decided that music reference stuff I do is getting stale. 

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After getting swept north of the border, the Braves have won 3 of 4.  They go for another series win on Saturday with yet another bullpen game, this time started by Uncle Jesse.  I assume we will see multiple innings from Gulf of Tonkin again.