Good to get a Sunday win after a few weeks. As this game seemed headed toward another Sunday loss, I was getting all set to start with an “OK guys, very funny…how about we win some on Sunday?” missive. Thankfully, now I don’t have to. And the win ended the Braves two-series losing streak, if you will, as it meant that they took two of three from the first-place Milwaukee Brewers.
This game was billed as a matchup between a couple of soft-tossing pitchers with the Braves prominently featured on their resume: Bryce Elder vs. Julio Teheran. I discovered (or possibly re-discovered) in the leadup to this one that my opinion of Teheran’s Atlanta tenure is considerably better than that of a lot of folks. This is a guy who was the Opening Day starter six seasons in a row for the Braves, went to two All-Star games and was generally the best pitcher on the staff throughout the 2010s. He was the best pitcher on the staff for a team that wasn’t very good for much of that, but I have fond memories of him. And this was a vintage Julio performance, as he kept the Braves off-balance for most of the day, allowing just one run on three hits over six innings to leave the game with a lead.
Thankfully, that run came because one of those hits was a solo shot by Travis d’Arnaud that carried just over the head of Sal Frelick, last night’s chief villain, and over the wall. (Most of the magic seemed to have worn off for Frelick today, by the way. There was another ball that tipped off his glove as he tried to make a diving catch; and he was held in check at the plate outside of an annoying eighth-inning single that was more the result of bad defensive positioning than anything else.)
Bryce, meanwhile, successfully righted the ship. He didn’t figure in the decision, but he allowed just two runs on four hits over six innings. He left with a 2-1 deficit, but it was exactly the kind of start we were hoping for from the young All-Star.
Even so, Milwaukee still led by a run going to the eighth. Orlando Arcia led off the frame with a line-drive single to center. Michael Harris traded places with him after grounding into a force out, then Ronald Acuna added another single to put two runners on with one out. Up stepped Ozzie Albies, who hadn’t homered since early this month. He turned the game around with a long drive over the power alley and into the Atlanta bullpen, giving his team a 4-2 lead.
Ben Heller allowed a couple runners on in the eighth (including the aforementioned Frelick) but got out of it by striking out Andrew Monasterio. Raisel Iglesias had his best outing in a while, mowing down the Brewers in the ninth for his 18th save. New callup Daysbel Hernandez collected the win in relief on his major league debut, completing a series replete with folks offering notable debut performances (Hernandez, Frelick, Allan Winans and Forrest Wall all had positive things to show for their debuts during this series.)
So the Braves return to their series-winning ways with this victory, and will now finish off their road trip through club history with a two-game swing in Boston. They continue to lead the NL East by 11.5 games and the race for the best record in the league by seven over the Dodgers.
Soroka sent down, Braves sign Yonny Chirinos off waviers.
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/38060258/braves-acquire-yonny-chirinos-waivers-rays-option-michael-soroka off waivers
It’s killing me to see what AA is going to accomplish. Can’t believe there are 7 or 8 days to wait.
Thanks, Nick. Good recap, and I was thinking of you as the game got late. Writing after a loss is a drag…this has been a predominantly good year for you and writing after wins on Sundays, tho!
Yeah, I guess I can’t complain. Maybe it’s just the nature of the thing…you notice when you have to write a recap for a crappy loss more than a win. Anyway, it’s always much appreciated when the team turns a bleh loss into a comeback win late!
Laurel or Yonny?
Slow clap.
Normally I would say getting Chirinos is a terrible move. His stats are not impressive and his peripherals are much worse. A strike rate that has fallen to 11% is also not good. However, I would not be surprised if they see something that can be salvaged. I’m interested to see the results.
I meant strike out rate, as most of you probably ascertained.
Man, Iggy was so good in this game. His changeup, sinker, and slider were all on point. And how about Daysbel Hernandez? I’m excited to see what the future holds for the kid.
Luis De Avila is putting together quite a stretch at Double A.
https://www.milb.com/news/luis-de-avila-unhittable-again-for-mississippi-braves
Apparently it is on twitter (but I picked it up on MSN.com), but The Stripers did a remake of the Tom Emanski / Fred McGriff video in honor of the Crime Dog and it was great. Matt Tuiasosopo really made it come alive.
Aw, that’s absolutely heartwarming.
So we traded Vodnik and #26 prospect for Pierce Johnson and his 6 ERA?
He’s a Rockie. A 6.00 ERA in that home ballpark – for a club with that level of dysfunction – deserves a healthy amount of skepticism. Both Johnson and Hearn seem to have good strikeout rates.
The team must have felt like Vodnik was at least a year away, and he’s absolutely the definition of a fungible asset. AA has always taken a more is more approach to filling the final bench holes at the deadline. I’m pretty confident our coaches saw something in both of these guys that they could work with. This falls firmly into the “in AA I trust” category for me.
From BP: “Johnson has a 2.31 FIP and a 2.72 xFIP in 15 1/3 innings on the road this season.”
The fact that they had Vodnik repeat Double A this season tells me they didn’t think a lot of him.
Johnson had better numbers before he went to Colorado.
So both Hearn and Johnson have options. AA hoards options like gold. This makes more sense why he targeted them specifically.
I think Chirinos, Johnson, and Hearn are perfectly good replacements for Elledge, Luetge, and Rodriguez. I have to wonder what will happen when Fried, Lee, and Minter return. Hearn has got to be low man on the totem pole and ripe for a DFA but there has to be one more and then someone has to be optioned. I hope Daysbel sticks. I think Heller will be optioned and someone like Williams or Guthrie might be DFA’d. After that, adding anyone else (like Wright or Chavez) could be a problem.
I sure would like to see someone from the 40-man as part of a trade package. If Johnson is the best we could get from the Rockies, I’m not sure who else better there is to trade with. I sure was hoping for Hand and/or Suter.
Wouldn’t be surprised to see guys low on the 40 man roster packaged in future trades between now and the deadline.
JonathanF with an off day open thread: https://bravesjournal.com/2023/07/24/off-day-note/