The Braves clinched their sixth straight postseason berth Sunday with a come-from-behind, 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The win also ensured that Atlanta took the three-game set from the visitors and pulled even on the six-game homestand, 3-3.
A 4-run seventh inning proved decisive for the Braves. Down 2-1 entering the frame, they mounted a two-out rally with an Orlando Arcia walk and a Michael Harris single. That brought up Ronald Acuna, who absolutely destroyed a baseball. He drove a ball at 110 mph to the base of the wall in center field, bringing home both runners to give the Braves 3-2 lead. He hit the ball so hard that it wound up as a 402-foot single. No matter, he made it to third on an ensuing Ozzie Albies single. Ozzie stole second and Austin Riley walked to load the bases, and Matt Olson followed with a 2-run single through the right side of the infield. The Braves wound up with six consecutive hitters reaching base safely, all with two outs.
The Pirates had taken a 2-0 lead in the sixth on a pair of RBI doubles by Bryan Reynolds and Jack Suwinski. It served as a bit of a rough end to a good Allan Winans start. He wound up allowing those 2 runs on 6 hits over 6.1 innings, striking out eight Pirate hitters. Though he wound up with the no decision, he very well might have solidified his spot as the team’s No. 5 starter for the limited number of weeks left in the season. He might also be a good choice for long relief and spot starter for the playoffs, though if Kyle Wright’s comeback continues unabated, he’ll have something to say about that too.
This was a bit of a sleepy homestand, but I don’t think that’s incredibly surprising for six games against a pair of no-hope teams sandwiched in between trips to our closest competitors for the best record in the league and for the division. And at the end of the day, the team salvaged a game from the St. Louis series and took two of three from the Pirates.
As far as that division race, the Braves lead the Phillies by 15 games and have whittled the magic number down to 6, meaning that they’ll clinch the division in Philadelphia this week if they take three of four in that series. In Philly, they’ll play four in three days, with a Monday doubleheader.
“He hit the ball so hard that it wound up as a 402-foot single.”
He would have had the double if he hadn’t watched it for so long before he started running.
At a speed of 110 miles per hour, the ball would have hit the wall in about 2.5 seconds.
And Ronald was at least three quarters of the way to second when the relay was cut off. Fortunately no one was covering first so he could safely scamper all the way back
RAJ didn’t really waste a lot of time admiring his hit, he just had the misfortune of the ball bouncing right back to the center fielder. same thing happened to O’Neill Cruz last year when he blasted that shot against the right field fence, but only ended up with a single.
Allan Winans got optioned down, and Jackson Stephens is back up. (Also I’d missed it, but AJSS is back up, too.)
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/09/braves-select-jackson-stephens.html
Keeping up with the roster moves is a complicated process.
Thanks Nick for the recap.
Mowing the Phillies down would be a useful deployment of energy and time this week.