The Braves stood pat with all four teams winning on Wednesday
It was undoubtedly a big win for the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday evening, but they did nothing but come up scratch against their competition in the National League wild card race. Each of the three teams they trail had commanding wins of their own, though the road for the Diamondbacks and Mets is about to get a whole lot tougher.
Arizona Diamondbacks (84-68) 9, Colorado Rockies (59-94) 4
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After a couple of disappointing results Arizona finally got their act together on Wednesday, teeing off on Rockies starter Austin Gomber in the first two innings. A no-doubt Corbin Carroll blast opened the scoring in the top of the first inning, and before it was closed the D’Backs had put up four 100+ mph batted balls and three runs off of Gomber. It got no easier for him in the second inning as Carroll and Randall Grichuk went back-to-back to put Arizona up 6-0 early in this game. From there it was a slow trickle to a predictable end, with the Diamondbacks getting a great outing from Eduardo Rodriguez to save their bullpen before they head out of Coors Field. Rodriguez struck out a season-high 11 hitters over 6 1⁄3 innings, his highest strikeout total in five years since a September 14th, 2019 game against the Phillies in which he struck out 12.
Rodriguez ever-so-briefly stumbled in the third inning, injecting some life into Colorado as they managed to string together a brutal series of hits. Sam Hilliard got him solidly with a 95 mph base hit to lead off the inning, but the three other hits in the inning were all softly hit, including Ezequiel Tovar’s bases-loaded two-run single that came off the bat at 66.2 mph. Comedy subsided, and Rodriguez racked up six strikeouts and only one more hit allowed through the remainder of his outing. Three Arizona runs in the ninth inning put this game away, making a late two-run rally in the ninth inning meaningless as the Rockies didn’t take a single plate appearance in this game with the tying run up to bat. It was a disappointing end to the series for Braves fans, but the Diamondbacks losing this series like they did was never expected and now their road gets much more difficult. Arizona will now head to Milwaukee for four games against the Brewers who have won their past three series and last week took two of three from the Diamondbacks in Arizona.
New York Mets (84-68) 10, Washington Nationals (68-84) 0
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The Mets have obliterated the Nationals once again, and Jose Quintana kept up his incredible streak of pitching with seven more scoreless innings. For Quintana this was his second straight outing of seven shutout innings, and across his past five starts the veteran lefty has now allowed only one earned run across 32 innings. The only inning Quintana found himself with even the remotest sniff of trouble was in the first when CJ Abrams laced a leadoff single and Quintana issued a two-out walk. With runners on the corners Quintana got Juan Yepez to roll one over to Luisangel Acuna at shortstop and end the inning with no damage.
Speaking of Acuna, he had a second straight huge game, getting two hits including his second career home run. Before this though, the wheels fell off for Nats starter DJ Herz in the third inning and the game was over early. Herz pitched well through three innings, with four strikeouts and only two baserunners allowed, but he walked Brandon Nimmo to lead off the fourth and absolutely everything was falling for the Mets. New York strung together three straight hits to score three runs, then Acuna would come through with his first hit by rolling a grounder through the left side to make it 4-0. Perhaps total disaster could have been avoided had Jose Iglesias’s 78.6 mph, .050 xBA pop up not fallen in for a hit, but it did and Herz saw his day come to an end. The Mets then torched reliever Jacob Barnes, with a two-run single from Starling Marte and a three-run home run from Brandon Nimmo capping off a nine-run inning.
Acuna would break through with the final run of the game in the eighth inning when he turned on an inside changeup for a solo home run. Like Arizona, the Mets have a tough matchup now as they welcome the Phillies into town for a four game set. It seems like it is going to be now or never for the Braves, who have a prime opportunity to make up ground against these two teams this weekend.
San Diego Padres (87-66) 4, Houston Astros (82-70) 0
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The Padres managed to put a dent in this game and run away late, but this was another tight battle between these two teams in what ended up being a fantastic series. Houston sent out Framber Valdez and San Diego sent out Dylan Cease, both matching talents through the first five innings. Jackson Merrill broke through with the first hit off of Valdez on a double in the second inning, but falling a Xander Bogaerts base hit Valdez broke Jake Cronenworth’s bat and got him to ground into a huge double play to end the threat. Cease on the other hand was perfect through five innings, finally letting up a base hit off of Jason Heyward’s bat to lead off the sixth inning. Houston came up short there, and in the next half inning the Padres took control.
In their prior matchup Machado got good wood on Valdez, smoking a 109 mph ground ball with two runners on base. Mauricio Dubon made a nice, tumbling snag to save Valdez from a run early, but Machado put his next swing where no one was going to reach it. Valdez again gave Machado a first pitch sinker, but he let this one drift in over the inner half and Machado turned on it and crushed it for a solo home run. In seven innings this was all San Diego would get off of Valdez, but it was all they needed as Cease stayed locked in. Houston turned to Kaleb Ort to take on the top of the lineup in the eighth inning, and the Padres, along with Ort’s regression, hit him hard to put the game away. Fernando Tatis Jr. led the inning off by smoking a ball into the gap, just clearing the fence in the power alley for a home run. This was the first of back-to-back-to-back home runs for the Padres, though it’s hard to blame Ort entirely for the final two. Machado reached for one at the bottom of the zone, and despite an awkward swing had enough strength to muscle a home run (.210 xBA) just over the wall in left field. Ort’s day ended when Donovan Solano got his bat to a 98 at the top of the zone, hitting another home run that just cleared the left field wall (.280 xBA). An infield single to and then an error by Xander Bogaerts gave the Astros a glimmer of hope in the ninth inning, but they turned to Tanner Scott who closed out the game with a strikeout of Yordan Alvarez and a lazy fly out by Alex Bregman.
The up-to-date NL Wild Card standings (Playoff Odds via FanGraphs):
Padres 87-66, +2.5, 99.7% Playoff Odds (+0.2%)
Diamondbacks 84-68, —, 77.8% Playoff Odds (-0.2%)
Mets 84-68, —, 71.5% Playoff Odds (+0.5%)
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Braves 82-70, -2.0, 51.5% Playoff Odds (-0.5%)