Well then. It’s been awhile since the Braves unloaded on an opponent over a series like that. Forty runs over the four games and the Braves outscored the Rockies by 28 runs over the course of the series.
They even decided they’d be sporting and spot Colorado five runs on Sunday, as Charlie Morton had some problems with location early and allowed a two-run homer to Ryan McMahon to get the Rockies on the board. They added three more in the second, helped by an Orlando Arcia error. It was about this time that I started bellyaching on the game thread about having to recap the only game where the team didn’t play well the entire homestand. Uh yeah, about that…
Eddie Rosario got the comeback started with a three-run homer in the bottom of the second. It looked as though Rockies starter Chase Anderson might have gotten a huge out when he got Austin Riley to weakly ground out to leave the bases loaded later in the inning. Uh yeah, about that…
The Braves inched closer with another tally in the fourth, then got another three-run homer from Ozzie Albies in the fourth to flip the game around and give themselves a 7-5 lead.
The Rockies had once chance to stay in this game (though their inablity to stop the Braves from repeatedly hitting the ball out into the Battery makes me skeptical that they would have). They got the first two on against a tiring Charlie Morton in the fifth still down by just two. However, Charlie closed his day with a flourish, striking out Elias Diaz, Nolan Jones and Mike Moustakas in order to get out of the jam with the Braves still up 7-5. The Rockies were down 10-5 the next time they came to the plate after Michael Harris launched a three-run homer, yet another moonshot that went down an alley between the Chop House and the right-center field stands that I didn’t even know existed. And that was basically that in terms of this game being in any kind of doubt.
Eddie Rosario added a two-run homer later in the game, finishing with six RBIs after going 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Harris was a perfect 5-for-5 with three runs scored and Albies went 3-for-5 with four RBIs.
The Braves now head to Philadelphia and Cincinnati, where they’re likely to get more resistance than they did this weekend from a Rockies team that’s circling the drain. However, if our boys continue to hit like they did this week, I dare say they’ll be alright.
Thanks, Nick.
A little disappointing that on this big run we have gained little ground on the Marlins (1.5 games) and essentially none on the Phillies. However, I do not greatly fear the negative run differential crowd.
So far, we have done well holding serve while Fried and Wright are down. We need to bludgeon to make up for mediocre pitching and less than mediocre fielding.
We need to get Riley straightened out. While everyone else was pounding the ball, he was 3 for 17 with 2 walks and 0 XBHs during the series. If we get him going it could really get exciting.
By all rights the Marlins should be battling the Mets for fourth place, but somehow have the third best record in the NL. Yet the Cards are only one game up on the Nats and Rox for worst record. Strange days indeed.
There is a neat piece on Fangraphs about our old pal Julio Teheran, who has re-tooled his arsenal and found his way back to the majors and, albeit in a short sample thusfar, seems to be catching on with the Brewers. The Teheran era in Atlanta feels so long ago in space-time that I had no idea until reading this that he was still just 32.
Marlins are 18-5 in one-run games and 6-11 in blowouts (also 16-5 in interleague). That completely explains the run differential. To beat them you have to score. The Cardinals are 8-16 in one-run games and 9-8 in blowouts. Pretty much explains the position of both. To beat the Cardinals, you keep them from scoring.
Both have been terrible against the Braves so far. The Braves are 13-8 in one-run games and 15-4 in blowouts. Trumps both the other two. You can’t stop them; you can only hope to slow them down……. :))
The only teams to really kick our ass have been Houston and Toronto and neither have fared that well since they did so.
Of all the teams in our division, the Phillies are the ones that concern me the most.
If you’re disappointed, Cliff, imagine how the Marlins and Phillies feel. At least we get the advantage of the calendar. We’ve quite possibly neutralized the best stretches of the year from the Marlins and Phillies.
I wouldn’t say the Phillies concern me exactly (and they are a long way back right now), but we saw last year that they’re capable and they do still have nine games left against us head to head, six of them at home. I would agree that if somebody’s gonna make it a race, it’s more than likely them.
We don’t play them again at all until mid-September though, so if we could seriously solidify our position by taking this series.
I was about to say, they are something like 13-3 this month and can’t gain any ground.
I am interested to see how Strider throws the ball tomorrow night. The last time he pitched in Philly it didn’t go so well and he has been struggling a little lately as well. It would be great if he could lock them down and get us the first game of the series.
Nice piece from DOB on HellBoy
https://theathletic.com/4619686/2023/06/17/braves-ben-heller-family-tragedy/
We have a game thread, people.