The right-handed starter rode two wins in two starts to victory over several position players including an increasingly impressive rookie.
Winning is much better than losing.
The Atlanta Braves won four of the six games they played this week – including a week-ending sweep of the Minnesota Twins. The offense produced at the level they were expected to this week – outside of that dreadful Wednesday day game in Toronto. The pitching was solid enough as well.
So what about this week’s Battery Power’s Braves Player of the Week?
It was a tough week to choose.
Offensively, Marcell Ozuna and Alex Verdugo both had a good series against the Twins but didn’t suit-up against the Toronto Blue Jays. Austin Riley, Sean Murphy, Michael Harris II, Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson all had their moments.
Drake Baldwin, the impressive rookie, hit his first two home runs and also got a game-winning pinch hit in the come-from-behind victory to start the series against Minnesota. In four games he produced five base hits, had two home runs and drove in five runners.
Baldwin started two games behind the plate, one at designated hitter, and pinch-hit in a fourth. The left-handed batter continues to show that he belongs in the majors. The Braves must continue to find a way to keep his bat in the line-up as often as possible given his offensive prowess.
On the pitching end, the bullpen pitched effectively with Rafael Montero, Pierce Johnson, Dylan Lee and Raisel Iglesias all having good weeks. Montero’s Saturday appearance in which he worked out of the bases-loaded, one-out jam was one of the more important fifth inning relief appearances the Braves may have this season.
The starting pitchers had a mainly forgettable week. Chris Sale didn’t make it out of the fifth inning against the Twins, Spencer Strider made his season debut and pitched okay in his first regular season start in more than a year, but Bryce Elder pitched like Bryce Elder and Spencer Schwellenbach had his worst start this season, by far.
However, Grant Holmes earned two wins this week. While the pitcher win doesn’t carry the value it did a generation ago, this week for Holmes, it did.
First, against the Blue Jays, Holmes carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before allowing a lead-off home run. In what was the longest start of his career, he exited the game with two-outs in the eighth inning having only allowed one run. Although two runners did score after he exited the game. He gave up only two hits and walked two while striking out four, while tossing 94 pitches. It was a big-time performance as the team had dropped two-out-of-three to the Tampa Bay Rays.
His second start of the week was on Sunday against the Twins in Atlanta. He set a career high in pitches with 105 when he left the game with two outs in the sixth. He had several high-stress innings and worked out of bases loaded jams in both the fourth and fifth inning allowing only one run on a wild pitch in the fourth. He walked four and gave up four hits but strikeout seven batters. It wasn’t his best start of the week, but he secured the sweep for Atlanta who won three-in-a-row and raised their record to 8-13.
A collective offensive effort – including the heroics of Baldwin – wasn’t enough to overcome the importance of the two starts by Holmes, earning Holmes this week’s Player of the Week honor.