Behind four hits and three ribbies from Michael Harris II, including a homer and a double, the Braves restored order to the universe with a 7-6 victory over the Bosox.

The good news after one inning was that Spencer Stider had thrown only ten pitches.  The not-so-good news is that the first two hitters delivered back-to-back jacks.  But the better news is that Spencer settled down and held them scoreless from that point through the 5th inning.  He only gave up one more hit and struck out five.  I’m still convinced that Strider is a much better pitcher than we feared he might be post-surgery.

Through four innings the offense looked like the same gang that flailed so badly against the Nats last weekend.  But in the fifth Matty O crushed one to right after a Dubon walk, and it was tied 2-2.  In the sixth they finally busted out.  A Riley triple, White walk, and MHII ground rule double made it 3-2.  Kim did what you’d expect and grounded out weakly, but Dom Smith pinch hit and drove in the runner on third with a groundout, and Ronald had a big two out hit to score another.  So now it’s 5-2.

In the bottom of the sixth, Strider walked the leadoff man.  Weiss exercised the quick hook and went to Fuentes.  After a single and walk, the bases were loaded with no outs.  After a 2-0 count, Didi recovered and induced a 6-3 DP.  The run scored, but you’ll take that trade any day.  Dylan Lee got the third out to keep it 5-3.  In the seventh, Lee surrendered a solo homer, so it’s 5-4 going to the 8th. 

With the game suddenly tight again, Michael Harris decided a little insurance couldn’t hurt (and he was right!).  Yaz led off with a solid single and Michael then hit a bomb to center to make it 7-4.  Suarez got them 1-2-3 (what else is new?) in the bottom of the 8th.  With the score still 7-4, things were looking good with Iggy coming on.  He had a scoreless inning streak of 28.2 innings coming in.  I suppose he was going to surrender a run at some point this season, but did he have to start tonight?  My heart can’t take many more of these games coming down to the last batter.    Four of the first batters got hits (although only the fourth was really hit hard), making it 7-6 with runners on first and second and one out.  But a grounder to short forced the lead runner at third, and a comebacker to the mound gave Iggy his 27th consecutive save.  I suppose he’ll blow a save at some point, but not tonight!

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Bob Horner passed away today at age 68.  I wrote a little about Bob Horner a couple of weeks ago in my thoughts on Bobby Cox.  In June 1978, in Cox’s first season as the Braves manager, the Braves had the overall number one pick in the draft.  They drafted the best hitter in college baseball (and one of the best college hitters of all time), Arizona State’s Bob Horner.  He was good enough that he never played a day in the minors, starting with the big club shortly after the draft —and he homered in his first big league game.  (As Mr Overlord and Ububba reminded us in comments, he was sent down a couple of years later, but refused to go and ultimately prevailed.) Making his debut in June, in just 89 games he hit 23 homers and slugged .852, winning the NL ROY award. 

Horner always hit when in the lineup.  His OPS+ was a stellar 124 in 1978—and that was the lowest he produced until his last season with the Braves nine seasons later.  His problem, of course, was staying in the lineup.  Due to an almost absurd number and range of injuries, he played more than 124 games in a season just once in his first seven seasons (and even then it was just 140).

Horner reached free agency in 1987; unfortunately for him, that was the year the owners illegally colluded and agreed not to sign free agents to any lucrative or long-range contracts.  Rather than settle, he played a season in Japan where he crushed the ball.  When he returned to the US a year later with St. Louis, a shoulder injury sapped his power, and within a year he was out of the game at age 30.  Still, he had accumulated 28.1 oWAR in his ten seasons.  His will always be a career that leaves a tantalizing sense of what could have been.

Before the sad news about Horner, I had planned to write about another Braves third baseman of decades ago.  Today is the birthday of Darrell Evans.  Bill James famously called Evans the most underrated player in MLB history, and who am I to argue with James?  Howdy Doody accumulated 58.7 bWAR in his 21 big league seasons.  (Note that HOFer Tony Perez had 53.9 bWAR.)  Most of Evans’ success, however, was not with the Braves (and I’m still mad about that).  Evans’ career got off to a great start.  He took over the third base job in mid-1971.  Two years later at age 26 he put up one of the great seasons in Braves history, with 9.0 bWAR, on 41 HR, 101 RBI, 114 runs scored, and he led the league in walks with 124.  Chipper Jones was a better player than Evans, but he never had a season with 9 bWAR.  Two and a half years after that monster season the Braves traded him and the original Marty Perez to the Giants for Willie Montanez and some other guys.  Suffice it say that was one of the worst trades in ATL history.  Evans went on to play another 14 productive seasons, leading the AL with 40 homers at age 38 and hitting 34 when he was 40.  The Braves could not have known that Evans would be so good for so long, but they also should have known he had a lot of value left.

That trade reminds me of another Braves third baseman in his age 29 season.  Darrell Evans had accumulated 24.5 bWAR when the Braves traded him at age 29.  But he had never replicated the success he had three years earlier, and he was off to an abysmal start in 1976.  Austin Riley has accumulated 23.2 bWAR so far, but he has not replicated the success he had three years ago.  And he’s off to a poor start in 2026.  Should they trade him next month for the modern equivalent of Willie Montanez?  You know what I think.  A little patience is warranted with Austin.  Who knows, he could be leading the league in homers nine years from now.  Or, God forbid, he could, like Bob Horner, be finished at age 30.  I predict his WAR at age 30 and older will be far closer to Evans’ than to Horner’s.

Speaking of Braves’ third basemen, who was their only other overall number one draft pick?  You probably know it was Chipper Jones.  Chipper has a good argument as the third best third baseman in history.  All time Braves great Eddie Mathews is clearly the second best, after Mike Schmidt.  No team in baseball has come close to the value the Braves have had at the hot corner since 1951.  The two first ballot HOFers were dominant, but Evans, Horner, Pendleton, and Riley also added a good deal of value. (I won’t mention Randy Johnson, Junior Moore, Jerry Royster, Ken Oberfell, or Chris Johnson here.)

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The Braves are now 37-18.  Bryce Elder takes the hill tomorrow, as the Braves go for yet another series win.