In a day where clouds loomed over Braves fans after the Spencer Strider news, all eyes were turned toward the game in hopes that the team could help us forget. Before I could even tune in, Max Fried had given up 6 runs in the 1st inning and I’ll fully admit that I fell victim to DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED! Fried gutted it out and tried to go 5, but fell short. The final line: 4.1 IP, 10H, 8 R, 1BB, 5K.
It was 8-2 when Dylan Lee took over.
Bottom 5, Ronald Acuna Jr. leads off with a single. Ozzie Albies Ks. Austin Riley doubles. Matt Olson pops out. I was DOOOOOMED again. Not so fast…Marcell Ozuna, 3 run tank. 8-5
Bottom 7, Matt Olson scores Austin Riley. Michael Harris II scores Matt Olson. 8-7.
Bottom 8…sh*t’s about to get fun. Jarred Kelenic double. Acuna single. D’Back OFer throws it backwards. Kelenic scores. Tie game!
Austin Riley Single. Acuna scores. Braves Lead.
Or just watch all of this:
Hat tip to the bullpen tonight. They inherited an absolute mess and threw 4.2 innings of 2 hit, 1BB, and 0 run baseball.
Looking at the Minors
In Braves affiliate news, the Gwinnett Stripers won 8-5 and Ray Kerr, who was acquired this offseason from the Padres, is pitching quite well at AAA and collected his 1st save of the year.
The Mississippi Braves lost 6-7 in Pensacola tonight, but Nacho Alvarez is starting out strong with 4 hits in 8 ABs, including 2BB.
Rome Braves have won their first 2 games and two top prospects in Owen Murphy and Drue Hackenberg have had impressive season debuts.
Sunday Game Thread
Chris Sale takes the mound for the Braves and RHP Ryne Nelson for the Diamondbacks. Nelson has been less than good at the MLB level and remarkably average in the Minors, but what do I know?
Braves Lineup
Spencer Strider News and Transaction a Day AA is Back!
Here we go again. Allan Winans is first up. Whether it be today, tomorrow, or later, the carousel will be in full swing until we know the full status of Spencer Strider’s injury. As of now, TBD is listed for tomorrow’s game against the Mets, which will feature former Brave, Julio Teheran. That just feels wrong to say.
Crazy game. I’ll take our offence over anyone else’s in the league. I especially like that we’re not home run reliant, even though we have plenty of power.
This post will also serve as Sundays game thread.
The most frustrating thing for Max may have been that after he righted the ship, he got a comebacker that could have been a possible double play, but 1-4-3 is maybe the hardest double play in the world – so he rushed the throw and threw it past Ozzie, extending the inning and ending his night. If he’d gotten even one out there, he might have finished the inning and ended on a high note. As it was, he had to yield to the pen in the middle of the inning.
Still, his bounceback after the first inning was impressive. I hope the team can get him some work with a sports psychologist, though. It has been a really unfortunate start to the year for him.
@Alex
At this point, Ozzie’s defense is really concerning to me. He looks like he’s running in mud and the arm strength, while it’s never been strong, is very concerning. I’ve noticed he doesn’t throw overhand at all anymore.
Seriously, does Arizona ever hit a ball hard? They dunk and dunk every damn game.
Ultimately, they gave the error to Ozzie, but, yes, both of Fried’s starts could have ended better except for an error and a bad strike call. It’s hard to believe he could be so bad in the first and so good in the second and third. Almost sounds like a pitch calling issue. I wonder how much not having Murphy hurts (and, yes, I know that TdA is a great catcher).
Oh, and Augusta won , too.
Nice job by Sale there getting through Marte to end the inning
I had no idea how much I would miss Francoeur on the tv broadcasts. Things are just so much easier to listen to with Fenchy keeping things lose while also providing good commentary and analysis.
If we’re not doomed yet…
At least there is time to muddle through the first half of the season if Strider is lost – this offence can beat up anyone. Playoffs are a different matter – I believe the blog’s word of choice is still crapshoot, but perhaps we look for SP at the deadline.
I love Max, but he either needs an opener to get past inning 1 or hypnotherapy. Not exactly helping his cause for a contract extension (sadly).
And even if we are doomed, this place is still the best
Not surprised Ray Kerr impresses at AAA. I wonder if he can get his BB/9 under 4. He could be a nice piece if so.
Chris Sale has pitched two games for us and looks an awful lot like Alex Anthopoulos went out and got us Chris Sale. And trading Kyle Wright for Jarred Kelenic (with Jackson Kowar as the barter currency in the middle) might prove to be one of the best of his career, up there with trading Brett Lawrie for Josh Donaldson more than a decade ago in Toronto.
Sale and Kelenic were obviously the two key offseason acquisitions and there’s a whole lot of season left to go. Kelenic in particular had an incredible start to the season last year and then scuffled so badly that the Mariners basically gave up on him, so the Braves will need to do everything they can to help him stay on an even keel. But so far, I’d say that they’re validating AA’s offseason strategy – the strategy that said that those two guys could be the main course of hot stove season, not just the appetizer.
I’d still love them to extend Fried, of course, but otherwise, I’m a pretty happy camper.
Makes it easier to win games when Austin hits it to the moon, too. Good Lord.